Persona 5: The Phantom Files

by sithlorde1988

Will cover the events of Persona 5 Royal, with the sequel set to cover Strikers. What happens when in addition to Ren being sentenced to go live in the care of Sojiro Sakura for a year after being sued for assault, his younger brother is also ordered to go and oversee him? How will this extra character change things? Read to find out! More info in chapter 1! ALL CHAPTERS NOW EDITED

57. Seeds in Space! Trapped Heiress part 7

A/N: sithlorde1988 here, with another chapter of Persona 5- The Phantom Files! I guess, since I don't have a lot to say this time around, let's just get right to the disclaimer, yeah?

Disclaimer: sithlorde1988 does not own the Persona series in any way, shape, or form (aside from the OC Kusa/Draconis, who he made and therefore does own, along with any other recurring OCs that appear in the story unless otherwise stated) and all credit for owning the Persona series belongs to Atlus, Sega and to a lesser extent Koei Tecmo, so all credit to them!

I suppose I should say before I start the chapter that with some luck, this chapter will have the majority of, if not the remainder of, the exploration of Okumura's Palace, and hopefully the lead-in to the prep week, which itself will then lead into the fifth calling card and fifth Palace Ruler fight, but given how long this Palace is as I recall, it might take both this chapter and next to reach the point of securing the route. MIGHT being the keyword there. I don't know for sure if it will take that long or not. Either way, enough prattle! On with chapter 57!

Chapter 57- Exploring the Spaceport Factory! Hidden Truths of Okumura Foods? Trapped Heiress part 7

(Okumura's Palace, Facility Surroundings Safe Room, with Queen, Skull, Panther, Joker, Noir, Mona, Fox, Oracle and Draconis)

Joker walked over to Skull and spoke up with a smile.

"What's up, Skull? You look like you got something to say." Joker said to Skull who grinned as he spoke up.

"Heh! Now that we got that chief director ID, we can keep movin', yeah?" Skull said as Joker nodded before walking over to Noir and speaking up.

"You look as if something's on your mind, Noir." Joker said to Noir who smiled as she spoke up.

"Not at all. Shall we go? We can finally progress, after all. Don't worry, I can keep going. I made up my mind some time ago!" Noir said as Joker nodded, deciding to call a meeting at that point. As the group gathered around the table, Mona spoke up to Joker.

"What do you wanna do, Joker?" Mona asked Joker, who spoke up.

"We'll get moving shortly, but first let's get a report on our current progression." Joker said as Fox nodded and spoke up.

"Understood. As things sit now, we have completed approximately one third of this Palace. That said, things seem to be going relatively well." Fox said as Panther spoke up with a closed-eye smile.

"I hope we can keep up this pace all the way to our goal!" Panther said happily as Mona frowned and spoke up, frowning at Panther as he spoke.

"Be that as it may, just make sure you don't let your guard down. We need to stay focused in the next area as well." Mona said as Queen nodded her agreement and spoke up.

"Both Panther and Mona are right. Though to be fair here, there are still two thirds remaining. Let's try to pace ourselves from here on." Queen said. Draconis nodded as he spoke up at that point.

"Good point, Queen. Let us also keep in mind we can rotate out backups as needed to keep people fresh as well, though I think we'd probably prefer we only do that if absolutely necessary, given how much switching around we did in the most recent Palace." Draconis said with a slight wince as he thought about how much of said Palace he'd spent sidelined with his knee injury, which had thankfully since healed to the point he no longer needed a knee brace for it. Mona nodded and spoke up.

"Good point, Draconis. That said, was there anything else to discuss, Joker?" Mona asked Joker, who nodded.

"Yes. I also wanted to take this opportunity to get a check on everyone's condition, or how everyone is doing." Joker said as Fox winced and spoke up.

"Apologies, but I am actually beginning to run low on stamina, Joker." Fox said as Panther spoke up.

"I can keep going. If you want, I could switch with someone." Panther said as Mona spoke up.

"Our starting lineup seems to be running out of gas, Joker. Don't push them too hard, got it? At the very least, why don't you switch out anyone who's tired?" Mona said as Joker spoke up.

"Understood. I'll take that under advisement. That said, I call this meeting to a close. Allow me a bit to consider who, if anyone, to swap out before we continue." Joker said. Fox nodded as he spoke up.

"Very well, let us go once you have made your decision, Joker." Fox said. Joker nodded, then after a bit to think and apply SP recovery to those he could, Joker spoke up.

"Okay, after thinking it over, I'm going to have Skull swap out for Queen, and Fox swap out for Draconis so those two can recharge a bit for now. We have a ways to go, so the last thing we need is any pre-mature burnouts. So yeah." Joker said as the others nodded and the needed tagouts were made so Fox and Skull swapped out with Draconis and Queen, making the starting lineup Joker, Draconis, Queen and Noir, while the backups were Skull, Mona, Fox, Panther, and Oracle, though the latter was also somewhat a starting battler since she was moreso the navigator. At that point, Joker headed towards the door of the Safe Room. At that point Panther spoke up.

"Oh, we going? Okay, let's move on!" Panther said with a smile as the group kept moving. While beating up Shadows as they continued exploring, Skull hit level 39 and learned the Physical skill 'Swift Strike', making Skull grin as he spoke up.

"Check out this new skill!" Skull said as Draconis spoke up.

"Not bad, but I'd give it like a 6 out of 10." Draconis said teasingly as Oracle chuckled and spoke up.

"Mwehehe, yes, just like I taught you Draconis. Way to roast him, my apprentice." Oracle said as Draconis chuckled and spoke up with a mock bow.

"You are too kind, my master, to humble a simple apprentice like myself with such praise." Draconis said with a smirk as Mona spoke up.

"Enough, you two. Flirt on your own time! Let's keep moving." Mona said as Draconis and Oracle laughed at the pouting not-cat as the former patted Mona gently on the head and spoke up.

"Sorry, Mona. Couldn't resist a bit of banter there. We'll keep moving now." Draconis said. After another battle, Noir hit level 39. After knocking some enemies down in the next battle, Joker signaled for an All-Out Attack, which the group obliged with as the screen eventually cut to a shot of Queen punching the enemies repeatedly before posing like a badass as the screen showed a white backdrop with a tire tread and the words 'JUSTICE HAS PREVAILED' in the upper-left corner of the screen as she smirked and spoke up.

"FIST OF JUSTICE!" Queen called out as the enemies dissolved into black mist, ending the battle. From the ensuing EXP gain, Mona hit level 39. After barely out-lasting a strong Shadow, Fox, Panther, and Queen all hit level 39. After taking out more Shadows, Oracle hit level 39. After a bunch of platform jumping, the group found a elevator that they took seemingly back the way they came. After using the map to find the path they needed, they reached the building Mona had pointed out, prompting Skull to grin as he spoke up.

"All right, we made it. The Treasure's in here, yeah?" Skull said. Mona nodded while he spoke up.

"Just past this building. We're definitely getting closer." Mona said as Fox frowned before speaking up.

"I find it odd that we have still yet to see anything about the mental shutdowns, to be honest." Fox said as Draconis spoke up.

"I feel like something like that, if we can find that here, would be nearer to the Treasure, or perhaps closer to the final Will Seed, of which we've only found the first. So we've still got time, Fox. Don't get impatient." Draconis said sagely as Mona nodded and spoke up.

"Good point, Draconis. And well, this Palace is on the site of the corporate HQ, remember? If he never told any employees about it, we may not find any hints about his involvement at all." Mona said as Skull spoke up.

"Worst comes to worst, we're just gonna have to get that info outta the Shadow himself." Skull said as Fox spoke up.

"Indeed. Anyway, let us hurry inside for now. I believe the factory comes next." Fox said as the group kept moving. After getting into the factory, Mona's ears perked up.

"Oh? Hold on! I can sense a Will Seed nearby, guys!" Mona said as Oracle spoke up with a smirk.

"Not only that Mona, I'm also picking up a treasure chest in the same vicinity. Might as well see if we can find both." Oracle said as the group found the chest first, which contained a 'Model Gun', then found a vent which led to the Will Seed door, but before the group could step forward to access it, Draconis threw a hand out to halt the group.

"Hold it! I sense that there's a trap here." Draconis said as Joker used his Third Eye to inspect the area and swore as he found the trap Draconis had sensed, frowning as he spoke up.

"Unfortunately, Draconis is right once again. There's lasers in front of that door of the infrared variety." Joker said as Draconis' eyes widened before he spoke up.

"For real!? Damn, good thing I sensed those. If those lasers didn't bisect at least one of us, the security level would've gone through the effing roof! Guess we'll have to double back for this area later once we find a way to shut off the lasers for this Will Seed." Draconis said before turning to Oracle.

"Any chance your keenly refined navigation skills is picking up a way to shut said lasers off close by?" Draconis asked Oracle, who shook her head and spoke up.

"Afraid not. If there's any such panel, it'll be further into the factory. So let's mark this place on our map for now so we can come back to it later." Oracle said as Draconis nodded, then turned to Fox and spoke up.

"Art is your forte, Fox, so would you do the honors of marking the Will Seed on our map?" Draconis asked Fox, who nodded as he spoke up.

"I'd be honored." Fox said as he drew a Will Seed on the part of the map they were on so they'd remember for later. Not long after doubling back, Oracle spoke up again.

"Ooh, the effects of cognition are weak around here. I think that means a new Safe Room?" Oracle said as Joker spoke up.

"Let's find it, then, if only to have an easy fast-travel spot for when we double back." Joker said as the group filed into the nearby Safe Room. Once there, Queen spoke up.

"Nice. We can use this place as a safe room." Queen said as the 'Export Line' was added to Joker's fast-travel list. Fox then spoke up.

"Indeed. I expect this would be a great place from which to resume our infiltration." Fox said as the group nodded and got comfortable. Joker then walked over to Skull and spoke up.

"What's up, Skull?" Joker said as Skull spoke up with a grin.

"Heh, nothin'! Y'know, this Palace is huge! But then again, I guess the building it's based around was huge in the first place. Wouldn't it be awesome to work in a huge-ass building like this?" Skull said as Joker spoke up.

"Not if a douche like President Okumura is running the place." Joker said before wincing as he noticed Noir nearby and spoke up.

"No offense to present company intended, of course." Joker said as Noir nodded. Joker then walked over to Noir and spoke up.

"Um, sorry if you heard what I said just now. I know he's your father and all, but the way he's behaving is not at all okay, so I was calling things as I see them." Joker said as Noir smiled and spoke up with a giggle.

"That's quite okay, Joker. I agree. He's not being a very good president or boss right now. So don't feel bad about criticizing him around me to an extent. That said, leaping from one platform to the next, with such grace and agility? Now that is proper phantom thief behavior." Noir said as Mona nodded approvingly from nearby. Joker smiled approvingly to Noir's words and spoke up.

"Agreed. Hopefully we won't take too long securing a route to his Treasure." Joker said as he walked over to Fox and frowned at the look on Fox's face before speaking up.

"Fox? What's wrong?" Joker asked Fox, who spoke up with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Oh, nothing. But, to be honest? Never in all my days have I seen such a sight as this place. What a shame that I haven't the time to sketch it though." Fox said as Joker spoke up.

"You say that like we're not coming back. Just bring a sketchbook next time and you can stop off to sketch to your heart's content before we confront President Okumura. How's that sound, Fox?" Joker asked Fox who smiled and spoke up.

"Wonderful. I look forward to it!" Fox said as Joker nodded and walked over to Oracle, who was typing away on her laptop, while also subtly stealing glances at the nearby Draconis who was leaned on a pillar, looking at the wall with a wry smirk on his face, presumably there because he was next to Oracle. Joker then spoke up.

"Whatcha workin' on, Oracle?" Joker asked Oracle, who laughed as she spoke up.

"Mwehehe, can't say just yet. It would ruin the surprise, after all. On another topic, isn't this spaceport amazing!? If only it weren't a Palace, I'd wanna take the grand tour!" Oracle said as Draconis grinned and spoke up.

"Ah, but that's the beauty of what we do, Oracle. Who says we can't sneak back in here at one point before sending the calling card to tour the place, while loading up on whatever loot and swag we can snatch. After all, we ARE phantom thieves, so trying to line our pockets is kind of an implied part of the job description.

It's just crammed in within the smallish fine print under where it says 'give courage to those who need it, and change the hearts of any douchebags that rule a Palace, with the exceptions of spunky redheaded beauties who ask for a change of heart.', so we could always return later for that tour if you really want to take one. Although, thinking about it, is not us infiltrating this Palace a tour in and of itself, to a point?" Draconis said to Oracle, who smiled and nodded as she spoke up.

"That's true, Draconis. Also, was that 'spunky redheaded beauties' part of your remark a reference to anyone in particular?" Oracle said as Joker had a knowing grin on his face while Draconis spoke up.

"Perhaps, Oracle. Perhaps. But as you yourself said, that'd be telling. And what's the fun of ruining the surprise? Mwehehe." Draconis said as he crossed his arms with a grin. Joker laughed and spoke up.

"I'll go ahead and move on now so you two can tease one another in some semblance of privacy, even though Fox is just over there, and could hear you two." Joker said with a smirk as Draconis playfully stuck his tongue out at Joker while Oracle giggled and spoke up.

"Hey, that's my bit, Draconis! Find your own schtick!" Oracle said as Draconis winked and spoke up.

"You mean like finding new and unique ways to subtly compliment you, Oracle? If so, I think I've already got my own schtick. Not to mention helping Joker, and potentially Fox as well eventually, learn to stretch a budget. That, and helping Boss around Leblanc on occasion. So I'd say I have several 'schticks', Oracle." Draconis said with a smirk as Joker walked towards the door of the Safe Room, smirking at the subtle hints of red on Oracle's face behind her visor, which was the last thing he saw before he decided to let the others rest while fast-traveling to the Velvet Room via the Palace entrance.

After a bunch of fusion shenanigans and a bit of strengthening, Joker headed back to the others and saw that Queen and Panther had stuff to say, so he walked over to Panther and spoke up.

"You seem fired up, Panther." Joker said as Panther did a closed-eye smile and spoke up.

"YES! We're finally in the right building with the Treasure, but we still need to actually find it." Panther said as Joker nodded and walked over to Queen and spoke up.

"You seem pleased with yourself, Queen." Joker said as Queen giggled and spoke up.

"More like I'm pleased with Skull's idea. Going from the outside was a surprisingly brilliant suggestion from Skull. Not to mention, this would've taken forever otherwise. I think he has some smarts in there, even if he doesn't usually show them off, which is unfortunate that he doesn't, since I kinda find intelligence attractive." Queen said with a smile as Joker smirked and spoke up.

"And you're not bothered by the fact Skull's younger than you?" Joker asked Queen, who blushed a bit and spoke up.

"That is a good point. But age is just a number when it comes to matters of the heart, yes?" Queen said sagely as Joker spoke up with a grin.

"Exactly. And judging from your face, I think you like Skull." Joker said with a grin as Queen frowned and spoke up.

"You'll keep that to yourself for now unless you want to get smacked, right? Even if I do like him, I'm not sure he likes me back, despite the hints to the contrary." Queen said as Joker nodded and walked off towards the door of the Safe Room. After a bit, Joker went to leave and Skull spoke up.

"We headin' out? Okay, let's go." Skull said as the group continued their infiltration. As they kept moving, they saw a room which had a strong resemblance to a factory, even coming with a conveyor belt on the next area with boxes on it as Panther gaped, eyes wide, as she spoke up.

"This really is a factory, just like the name says. I wonder what they're making here, though?" Panther said as Oracle spoke up.

"Hm, do you think it's related to that 'Escape to Utopia' thing?" Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"Perhaps. The boxes on the conveyor belt do seem rather suspect to me. Though, I hope I'm wrong about what's in those boxes, since if I'm right, our target might be more messed up than I thought." Draconis said as Skull spoke up.

"True. Hold on a sec though. Ain't the guys in here movin' kind of weird to you guys?" Skull asked as the camera panned over to several worker robots as they started running around erratically before collapsing to the ground, motionless. Queen frowned as she spoke up.

"Alas, unfortunately this is the exact opposite of how you would imagine a utopia to be." Queen said as Noir winced and spoke up.

"These conveyor belts and the positioning of the workers seem odd to me. Yes, this is almost identical to the company's bun factory. I can't believe this is happening." Noir said sadly as Fox frowned and spoke up.

"At the very least, this is how President Okumura views his workers." Fox said as Draconis spoke up.

"Yeah, you're right Fox. Apologies to Noir, but this has to be said. That scumbag views his workers like mindless drones that can be replaced. That sort of mindset makes me sick! A true boss would view his underlings as vital, invaluable components that are valuable to keeping the overall flow of things going, but President Okumura seems to just think that his workers are disposable and replaceable. If nothing else, it tracks with that line he gave us about 'stepping on others to get ahead', which I almost punched him when I heard that." Draconis said, smiling as Oracle subtly took his hand in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze while Fox nodded and spoke up while giving Noir an apologetic look.

"I concur, Draconis. My apologies for saying so Noir, but this place is truly atrocious." Fox said as Skull frowned but nodded as he spoke up.

"True. Well, it'll all be under control if we can trigger that change of heart in him, yeah? Let's go!" Skull said as the group kept moving. After pummeling some Shadows inside the factory, Joker and Draconis hit level 40 and Joker's 'Neko Shogun' persona hit level 35. Joker smirked as he spoke up.

"All right! Level up!" Joker said as he leveled up. And on top of that, the level ups gave Neko Shogun the passive skill 'Defense Master', and Smaug gained the mid-tier Fire skill 'Agion'. Oracle spoke up excitedly at that point.

"Oh! New skills! Those look pretty sweet!" Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"Indeed. Also, excellent, Smaug's fire now burns ever hotter! Fear him and his new skill, if you dare! Mwehehe!" Draconis said as Oracle mock-exasperatedly elbowed Draconis in the gut and spoke up with a wink.

"Don't be such a doofy show-off, Draconis. It's not necessary, even if it is adorable." Oracle said as Draconis smirked before he spoke up.

"You know what they say, Oracle. Takes adorable to know adorable." Draconis said with a smirk as Neko Shogun acquired Defense Master and Smaug acquired Agion. After the battle, the group kept running until they found a door, at which point Mona blinked and spoke up.

"Hm? This scent smells familiar to me. Yes, that's it! The Treasure must be right beyond that door!" Mona said as Skull frowned and spoke up.

"Is this gonna be another of them authenti-whatever things?" Skull asked as Draconis spoke up.

"Are you trying to say authentication, Skull?" Draconis asked as Skull nodded before Oracle smiled and spoke up.

"Yeah, what Draconis said, but no Skull, there's no authentication here. Kinda anti-climactic, huh?" Oracle said as Panther spoke up.

"Well, the easier, the better, right? Let's go!" Panther said as Draconis spoke up.

"More likely he didn't think anyone would get this far so he didn't have security up very far. So we should be on guard past here in case he stepped up the defenses after this to allow for the off chance someone got that far." Draconis said sagely as the group kept moving.

The group made to rush for the door when one of the mechanical arms broke down and exploded partially, dropping a wall of crates in front of the group that would have crushed them, had a wide-eyed Draconis not heard the rumble and pushed the group gently back in time to avoid being squashed. Panther blinked and spoke up.

"Whoa! We almost got crushed!" Panther said as Skull spoke up.

"That freakin' hunk of metal broke way too goddamn easy!" Skull said as Fox spoke up.

"There's no point in complaining at this point. We will be forced to search for another route." Fox said as Mona spoke up at that point.

"You're right. Let's find something that'll help us get past here." Mona said as Draconis grinned and spoke up, jerking a thumb towards Joker as he spoke.

"And that's why we have Joker around. His Third Eye should make that a breeze to some extent. But for real, can we not keep almost walking into traps? That's twice now I've had to stop us from walking headlong into pain or trouble." Draconis said as Oracle smiled and spoke up.

"Yep, you're a regular hero! Mwehehe!" Oracle said as Draconis shrugged and spoke up.

"Perhaps so, Oracle. But is that not part of being a Phantom Thief?" Draconis pointed out sagely. Queen nodded as she spoke up.

"True, that is a part of what we do, Draconis. That said, hmm, I wonder. Do you think we'd be able to make use of these fragile arms somehow?" Queen asked as the group kept moving. Joker blinked, as he recalled running past an odd terminal and stopped the group as he walked towards it. Skull blinked as a control panel emerged from the terminal and spoke up.

"Wh-What the? Something came out!" Skull said as Queen smiled at Skull before she spoke up.

"Indeed it did, Skull. Huh, would you look at that? This is the control panel for that robotic arm. It seems we can use this to set it to either three, five or even ten times the normal speed if we so chose. Interesting." Queen said as Panther frowned and spoke up.

"Perhaps, but I bet it'd break if it was stuck on 10 times the speed for a long time." Panther said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"Indeed. That'd be like if one of us were overworked and told to work that fast for an extended period of time. So it tracks." Draconis said sagely. Joker then examined the terminal as a voice came from it.

"CHANGING ARM SPEED." The terminal said as Joker spoke up.

"Hm, considering what Panther just said, let's set it to ten times the speed. Maybe if the arm breaks, it'll make us a path forward?" Joker said with a shrug. Sure enough, after a few moments, the arm twitched a bit before it exploded and flopped across the belt, making Fox blink as he spoke up.

"Indeed? Much as Panther predicted would happen, it appears to have broken." Fox said as Skull frowned and spoke up.

"It was dead, like instantly. I know it was ten times the normal speed, but still, even so, that's weak." Skull said as Draconis spoke up while crossing his arms and giving Skull an amused smile.

"How long would YOU last Skull, if we set a treadmill you were running on to 10 times the usual speed? Be honest." Draconis said as Skull winced and said nothing, to which Draconis smiled and spoke up with a sympathetic nod.

"That's what I thought. Sorry for putting you on the spot like that, Skull." Draconis said sagely as Queen spoke up.

"True, but that also just proves how truly overworked these machines are, if anything." Queen said. Fox spoke up.

"It seems that any increase in workload would have led to its collapse at this point." Fox said as Noir blinked and spoke up.

"True. Hey wait, but don't you think we might be able to walk on the broken arm?" Noir asked as Draconis spoke up.

"That is definitely possible, Noir. Good point." Draconis said as Noir turned to Joker and spoke up.

"Thank you, Draconis! Also, we should check it out, Joker!" Noir said as the group kept moving. After crossing the arm and moving forward, Joker spotted a console that he interacted with. At that point Draconis blinked as he read the readout over Joker's shoulder and spoke up.

"Correct me if I'm wrong Joker, but didn't that just say 'INFRARED LASERS DEACTIVATED'!? If so, maybe our path to the second Will Seed is open now?" Draconis said as Joker blinked and nodded before he spoke up.

"Perhaps. Once we hit our next Safe Room, we can double back and find out." Joker said with a nod as the group kept moving. Joker blinked as he saw a grapple point nearby, which when used led to another that led to a quick route back to the Will Seed. Joker blinked and spoke up.

"Hm, guess we're getting that Will Seed now without doubling back. Interesting." Joker said as the group found the Will Seed room again and wasted little time in slashing through the holographic tape and going through the door to seize the 'Green Greed Seed' from its pedestal. Draconis smirked as he spoke up.

"Nice! That's two Will Seeds down!" Draconis said as Noir nodded her agreement and spoke up.

"Indeed! We're on quite a roll, aren't we?" Noir asked as Oracle nodded and spoke up.

"Yup! We're flying through this area faster than an over-leveled grinder plows through low-level dungeons! Too easy, mwehehe!" Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"I dunno about that analogy, Oracle, but that was rather easy. Now to get back where we were, methinks." Draconis said as the group kept moving. After finding their way back to where they'd left off and defeating some Shadows, Joker's 'Suzaku' Persona hit level 24. After a bit, the group found another console and used it to disable an arm, at which point Noir spoke up.

"Hey! Look! We've gotten much closer." Noir said as Draconis nodded before Oracle spoke up.

"Mwehehe, good thing you didn't tack a 'Listen!' onto that Noir, or I'd have had to roast you for making an unintended OoT reference. Besides, being the 'navi' is my job." Oracle joked as Draconis grinned before he spoke up.

"Not in that case, it's not. To quote a song I heard once, 'Hey, look, listen, you effin' annoyin' fairy, I'd rather be forced to listen to constant Katy Perry!' In other words, you're a far better navigator than Navi ever was, not to mention you're much better looking. So don't insult yourself with that sort of response, Oracle." Draconis said sagely as Skull grinned and fist-bumped Draconis while speaking up, recognizing the song that Draconis had referenced.

"Hell yeah, man! Glad I'm not the only guy around here who listens to Smosh!" Skull said as Draconis nodded before returning Skull's fist bump while speaking up.

"Naturally. You'd be surprised how diverse the array of songs is that I listen to, Skull." Draconis said sagely. Queen frowned at Skull, Oracle, and Draconis before she spoke up.

"Can you three focus!? And yes Noir, we are much closer to our goal, after quite the detour to get here." Queen said as the group kept moving. After going through the nearby door, Skull groaned and spoke up at what the group saw.

"Oh, man! Come on! There's MORE of this place!? What the eff?" Skull said as Panther spoke up.

"True, but I think the better question is what do they make in this factory?" Panther said as Queen spoke up.

"According to Noir, this is where they produce their hamburger buns." Queen pointed out as Noir smiled before speaking up.

"That's true of the factory in the real world, but I wonder what they make here, to be honest." Noir said as Draconis spoke up, his arms crossed while he spoke.

"Good question. But you know what they say, Noir. Sometimes, there's questions that're better off being left unanswered." Draconis said to Noir sagely as the group kept moving. After a bit, the shot panned to another door on the far side of the room before Queen spoke up.

"From the look of it, there's only one more door to be seen. If we can, it seems we should head over there." Queen said as the camera panned to what appeared to be an automated press device of some sort as Fox frowned and spoke up.

Hm? This is some sort of pressing device. We will not be able to reach that door without passing over what appears to be a hydraulic press, and I'm not sure how we'll do that." Fox said with wide eyes. Skull then spoke up, pointing to a ramp nearby.

"And even if we did get over that press, we'd just get messed up by those damn lasers. We gotta do somethin' about those before we get to the press." Skull said as Mona nodded and spoke up.

"Agreed, Skull. It'll probably be a hassle, but I have a feeling it's our only option. We need to turn off these infrared lases and deactivate the hydraulic press before we can proceed much further. As such, let's try to find some sort of controls for those." Mona said as Draconis smirked and spoke up.

"No problem, that's why we have Joker and Oracle! Between Joker's instincts and Oracle's keen navigational prowess, we've got good odds at finding what we need." Draconis said with a grin while the group kept moving. After starting to backtrack towards a Safe Room, the group found a locked chest that Joker used a Lockpick to open, getting a 'Big Bang Axe' from within that Noir looked at as she spoke up.

"Oh my! This is an axe? Ooooh, a new axe! I'd like to try it right away!" Noir said. Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Go ahead, Noir." Joker said as Noir equipped it and it was a perfect fit. She them smiled and spoke up.

"Yay! I'm going to work harder than ever!" Noir said as she equipped the Big Bang Axe. After a bit, the group reached the Safe Room. Joker walked over to Mona, seeing him look bothered, and spoke up.

"Why the long face, Mona? We're making good progress, aren't we?" Joker asked Mona who sighed and spoke up.

"Yeah, we are. But, ugh, I dunno. Why's this Palace so big? Well, I guess it's at least partly since the actual building is really big, too, that it's this big." Mona said as Joker nodded and relaxed for a bit. After a bit, Joker walked over to Draconis and spoke up.

"Finished teasing Oracle for now, Draconis?" Joker asked Draconis teasingly as Draconis huffed and spoke up while resisting the urge to roll his eyes at Joker.

"Yes, Joker. And for the record, she said she enjoys it when I tease her, or I wouldn't be doing it. As I recall, you said yourself you enjoy teasing your crush a lot too. So don't try to lecture me for doing the same thing. Not cool. That said, we're getting closer to the Treasure route. Let's keep pushing onward. We have a lot of people countin' on us, after all." Draconis said sagely as Joker nodded and walked over to the door. Panther saw this and spoke up.

"Ready to go? Okay, let's get back to exploring." Panther said as the group kept exploring. While battling, Skull and Queen looked at each other and nodded.

"IT'S SHOWTIME!" Queen and Skull said in unison as they charged forward. Skull then spoke up as Queen looked at him.

"Time to get crazy with Fist of the-" Skull said as he was cut off mid-sentence by an elbow to the ribs courtesy of Queen, who spoke up.

"Stay focused!" Queen said ignoring the barely-audible 'GAH!' of pain from Skull as she ran forward and prepared to attack as Skull smacked the enemy with his mace to stun it before Queen started swinging wildly.

"Here we go! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Take this!" Queen said as she unloaded a flurry of punches at the stunned Shadow while Skull spoke up after bringing Queen a can of grape soda.

"That was amazing!" Skull said, only to wince a moment later as Queen effortlessly crushed the unopened can in one hand while speaking up.

"As if I needed it!" Queen said, turning away as the Shadow dissolved into black mist, ending the Showtime. Afterwards, Oracle chuckled and spoke up.

"Mwehehe! I love that reference!" Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"At least you get it, Oracle. I'm still not fully sure I get that reference. But that's probably because I've yet to watch that show." Draconis said as the rest of the fight was over quickly after that. Not surprisingly, the EXP gain from the fight brought Skull up to level 40. After beating up more Shadows, Mona hit level 40 and gained the skill 'Miracle Punch', making Mona grin happily as he spoke up.

"Now I'm even more charming!" Mona said as Oracle smirked and spoke up, after holding up a hand to stop Draconis from rebutting to Mona's remark.

"If you say so, Mona. Personally I think you're already plenty charming as you are. Unlike Skull, I actually sense charm from you. Not as much as from Draconis, but still more than from Skull." Oracle said before giggling at the two dropped jaws from Mona and Draconis as the latter spoke up while Zorro acquired 'Miracle Punch'.

"For real? You think I'm charming, Oracle? That's sweet of you to say, even if I don't think I'd call myself more charming than Mona-sensei." Draconis said as Mona nodded, relieved to hear Draconis still referring to him as 'sensei' occasionally. He'd been worried for a bit that he might have ruined any respect Draconis had for him when he misunderstood the partial conversation he'd heard between Joker and Oracle before. After beating more Shadows, Noir and Fox hit level 40, the level up giving Fox the mid-tier Ice skill 'Mabufula'. Fox spoke up with a smirk.

"A new skill! I'd like to try this out soon!" Fox said as Goemon acquired 'Mabufula'. While fighting some Shadows, Draconis hit a critical on a Koh-i-noor, or the Treasure demon of Okumura's Palace, before Joker called for an All-Out Attack which the group obliged with, all coming in with a flurry of attacks while Draconis smirked and slammed the back end of his staff into the Shadow's chest before back-flipping expertly and hefting a handful of knives, hurling them with expert precision into the stunned Shadow, who found itself pinned against the nearby wall by the knives before slumping over and dissolving into black mist as Draconis turned and crossed his arms while speaking up.

"Heh, and that's the end of that! Good riddance!" Draconis said smugly as he posed in an epic manner while the usual backdrop of a dark-green banner with gold embroidery on the corners popped up and Smaug hovered over his shoulder, right under where the words 'THE DRAGON HAS JUDGED YOU AND YOU WERE FOUND LACKING. FAREWELL!' were written in gold flowing script over Smaug's head while the battle ended. As the battle ended, both Oracle and Queen hit level 40, while Joker's 'Arsene' Persona hit level 27. The level up had the result of Oracle's Nostradamus Persona gaining the Passive Skill 'Curse Boost', making Oracle grin as she spoke up.

'Mwehehe! A new move! How do you like me now!?" Oracle said with a smirk as Draconis spoke up.

"Not bad, Oracle. Not bad. Very impressive." Draconis said approvingly as Oracle smiled and spoke up.

"Aww, you're gonna make me blush, Draconis!" Oracle said as Panther and Noir giggled nearby at the banter between the two while Nostradamus acquired Curse Boost. Queen then blinked at this and spoke up.

"Actually, why do you have two Personas if you're just a navigator, Oracle?" Queen asked as Draconis spoke up while crossing his arms as he spoke.

"She's also learning to fight so she can start joining in battles eventually, hence why Nostradamus is more combat-specced rather than support-centric like Necronomicon, but it's still a work in progress, partly since it's tough to find Oracle a good weapon. I've more or less pinned down her ranged weapon, but her melee weapon is proving a bit trickier to figure out, though I'm close to hitting a solution for it." Draconis said, getting an approving nod from Queen as the battle ended. Afterwards, Oracle spoke up again.

"Mwehehe! They didn't stand a chance! Let's keep goin'!" Oracle said as the group kept moving. Once they got back to where they were, Joker spotted another console that he inspected as Fox spoke up.

"Ah, these must be shift controls for the presses. You can select Break, Lunch, or Unpaid Overtime. Wait, what!? Break is an option!?" Fox asked in shock as Queen spoke up.

"It seems that way. In any case, we may be able to get past that problematic press if we can find the corresponding control panel. Let's do this, Joker." Queen said as the console spoke up in a mechanical voice.

"NOW CHANGING PRESS SHIFTS." The console said as Joker tried to set it to 'Unpaid Overtime' out of curiosity as the mechanical voice spoke up once more.

"WE ARE CURRENTLY IN A CONSTANT STATE OF UNPAID OVERTIME. FOR THE GOOD OF THE COMPANY! GLORY TO OUR WONDERFUL PRESIDENT OKUMURA AND HIM ALONE!" The console said as Skull gasped and spoke up.

"FOR REAL!? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up! What the hell did it mean, 'constant'!?" Skull asked as Mona frowned and spoke up.

"Working unpaid overtime is how these workers live, so setting it to that changes nothing, it would seem." Mona said as Draconis huffed what sounded vaguely like 'effing fascist slave driving bastard.' under his breath, which the group ignored as Oracle spoke up.

"What a nightmare these workers live in." Oracle said as Noir winced, having heard Draconis' muttered remark, but not being able to refute it as he wasn't wrong. She spoke up.

"My goodness." Noir said as Fox frowned and spoke up.

"I should've known. There is no benefit to us if nothing changes. We can likely ignore that option entirely." Fox said as Draconis spoke up.

"Please do! I apologize for that dark comment I made just now, but I disagree with running one's underlings ragged, as Joker, Skull, Panther, and Mona should know full well from our first target and how much of an effing slave driver he wound up being in the end. Granted, Kamoshida ended up being an all-around douche, but that's beside the point. We need to figure this out so we can change that man's heart before he does something he cannot take back and has to regret for the rest of his days." Draconis said as Joker looked at the remaining two options, eventually deciding to try the 'break' setting. The console then flashed red as the mechanical voice spoke up.

"IT IS NOW BREAK TIME! LET US REST AND RESTORE OUR WEARY SPIRITS! BREAK TIME SHALL LAST FOR APPROXIMATELY FIVE SECONDS!" The console said, and sure enough it was a five second break, not even long enough to reach the press before the console spoke up once more.

"BREAK TIME IS OVER! LET US WORK EVEN HARDER TO ACCOUNT FOR OUR TIME WASTED SLACKING OFF!" The console said as Skull frowned and spoke up.

"WHAT WAS THAT!? That's bullshit! What're we supposed to do in five goddamn seconds!?" Skull said as Draconis spoke up.

"Not a damn thing! That's not even enough time to reach the press, let alone climb it. Sure, some of us could be waiting by the press while the others activate the console and try to hurry across, but odds are they'll either get stuck on the other side or squished mid-crossing, so I dunno if I'd risk it." Draconis said as Panther spoke up with a frown.

"I was going to say take a deep breath, but Draconis raises a very good point, if a bit graphic for my tastes." Panther said as Fox spoke up.

"Indeed. Nevertheless, he is quite correct in his assessment. As such, five seconds is a useless amount of time for us. We can likely ignore that option entirely." Fox said as Joker ran back to the console and tried the last setting, which was 'Lunch'. As before, the console flashed red as the mechanical voice spoke up.

"IT IS NOW LUNCHTIME! LET US CONSUME OUR SLOP AND GLEEFULLY REENERGIZE! LUNCHTIME SHALL LAST FOR APPROXIMATELY THIRTY SECONDS!" The console said as the group started dashing for the press. After beating a Shadow that was in the way, Panther hit level 40. After the battle, the console spoke up once more.

"BREAK TIME IS OVER! LET US WORK EVEN HARDER TO MAKE UP FOR THE TIME WE SPENT SLACKING OFF!" The console said. After Joker and the others reset the timer and got across safely, they found another console which Draconis idly noted had a setting of 'Disable Security', making him grin as he spoke up.

"Joker, do you think that 'Disable Security' setting might be what we need to nix those lasers that're in our way?" Draconis asked Joker, who shrugged and spoke up.

"One way to find out, yeah?" Joker said as he hit the 'Disable Security' button. The console then spoke up in a mechanical voice.

"AS A COST-CUTTING MEASURE, WE WILL NOW DISABLE SECURITY IN SOME LOCATIONS. PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR YOUR OWN WORKSPACES." The console said as the lasers shut off, making Joker and Draconis grin and exchange a triumphant fist-bump before Fox frowned and spoke up.

"You are unforgivable! To think the higher-ups are just shoving all this stress on the employees so things can go pleasantly for themselves. I'm with Draconis, people like that make me sick." Fox said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"I can understand that, Fox. The sooner we change this man's heart, the better we'll all feel." Draconis said as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"Truth! Well, now we can get over to that hydraulic press, right?" Skull said as the group nodded and kept moving. After bashing around some more Shadows, Joker and Draconis hit level 41. Joker grinned as he spoke up.

"All right! Level up!" Joker said as he leveled up while Draconis smirked and spoke up.

"You're always so smug about leveling up, Joker. Not that it's a bad thing, just a bit show-offish." Draconis said as both Mona and Skull stifled laughter as the former spoke up.

"That's rich, coming from the guy with probably the flashiest All-Out Attack of us all so far." Mona said as Draconis huffed and spoke up.

"Excuse me for taking pride in what I do and wanting to make my work look good." Draconis said in an offended tone as Oracle giggled and patted Draconis on the shoulder.

"Momentai, Draconis. They're just jealous that their All-Out Attacks aren't as cool as yours. And no, I'm not biased in saying that." Oracle said as Draconis blinked in surprise before smiling as he hugged Oracle and spoke up.

"I don't know which part I find cuter about that, Oracle: The part with you trying to make me feel better, or the part where you shamelessly pulled off that reference and sounded so damn adorable doing so." Draconis said with a grin as Oracle blinked and spoke up.

"I-I made that reference on purpose! Besides, can you blame me!? The one who made that reference is way too adorable for their own good." Oracle said as Draconis nodded and spoke up with an amused smirk..

"I agree, on both counts. But let's keep going, lest we break someone with our references." Draconis said sagely as the group kept moving after the battle ended. After getting to the next section, Oracle spotted a new Safe Room, which the group went into as Noir spoke up.

"We found a safe room!" Noir said as the 'Disposal Line' was added to Joker's fast-travel list. After the group settled down for a short breather, Joker walked over to Panther.

"Hey, how're you holding up, Panther?" Joker asked Panther, who looked at Joker with a frown on her face as she spoke up.

"Ugh, I'm fine. I wonder if real hamburger factories are like this, though." Panther said as Joker shrugged.

"Wouldn't know, Panther. Never been inside one." Joker said as Panther nodded and spoke up once more.

"If so, I feel like in all good conscience, I don't think I can eat at them anymore." Panther said as Joker nodded and walked over to Mona, who he saw was frowning.

"Why so angry, Mona?" Joker asked Mona as Mona spoke up with a huff.

"President Okumura makes me so mad! Working the employees until they drop is not only pointless, but stupid! And what exactly is President Okumura getting out of it?" Mona asked as Joker shrugged and walked over to Fox before speaking up.

"What's bothering you, Fox? I can see the distressed look in your eyes." Joker said as Fox nodded and spoke up.

"You're correct. I'll be blunt. What exactly are they making here? I know full well it's not hamburgers." Fox said as Joker spoke up.

"I think I'll defer to what Draconis said before about some questions being left unanswered. Because, to be honest? I don't think I want to know the answer to that question." Joker said as Fox nodded and Joker walked over to Oracle, who was idly kicking her feet up in the air while humming as she worked on her laptop. Joker spoke up at that point.

"What're you working on that has you so entertained, Oracle?" Joker asked as Oracle spoke up with a huff.

"Aww, this sucks. No matter how much they work, they never get to see it end, do they? And to your question, Joker? Not much, just mulling over what we've seen so far." Oracle said as Draconis gave Oracle an encouraging smile while he spoke up.

"Be fair here, Oracle. We knew coming into this part of the Palace that what we found wasn't gonna be pretty, so I'd say this is the part where it gets worse before it possibly gets better, so if you can't handle it then avert your eyes, and I'll try my best to watch, so I can tell you when it's over." Draconis said bluntly, making Oracle look over at him in surprise, seeing the concerned but reassuring look in Draconis' eyes behind his mask, making her smile as she nodded. Joker grinned at Draconis and spoke up.

"I think you might just be in there, Draconis. Good work." Joker said as Draconis nodded before frowning slightly at Joker while he spoke up.

"Naturally. Though I hardly think the middle of a Palace infiltration is the place to be making notes on how close we've gotten to our respective crushes, Joker. Focus, man." Draconis lightly rebuked Joker, who nodded and spoke up.

"My bad, my bad. Hey, keep an eye on the others for a bit. I need to go duck away on my own for a bit, but I'll be back ASAP so we can resume our exploration." Joker said as Draconis nodded before Joker fast-traveled to the entrance. While doing the current Fusion Alarm, Joker managed to luck his way into creating a Bugs with 'Samarecarm' as the twins asked for, so he spoke to them to inquire as to the status of his penal labor. Justine blinked as she spoke up in surprise.

"I see you have brought us a Bugs with the skill 'Samarecarm', as we asked." Justine said as Caroline spoke up.

"Hmph, you make it seem easy. Well, the assignment is done, Inmate." Caroline said as Ren had a seat on the floor of his cot before Justine sighed and spoke up.

"Thinking back on our encounters here, we have lost our composure in front of you quite a few times." Justine said as Caroline crossed her arms and spoke up.

"So, uh, to be honest? Me and Justine had a little talk. I dunno how to put this exactly, but we don't know each other too well, even though we're so close." Caroline said as Justine nodded and spoke up.

"We have also come to realize that each of us complements the faults of the other quite nicely indeed." Justine said as Caroline nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever had a deep conversation like that with anyone before. Oh, and it made me remember something super important. I bet you wanna hear what that was. Isn't that right, Inmate!?" Caroline asked Ren, who spoke up.

"Is this a trick question? It seems like the last few times I've opened my mouth to speak, I either get yelled at or rebuked by one of you, usually followed by your baton hitting the bars of my cell. I've taken that to mean you prefer I not voice my opinion unless directly asked to do so. But I suppose if you want an answer, then yes, I would like that, if you're offering." Ren said honestly. Caroline chuckled as she spoke up with a rare closed-eye smile as she spoke.

"Of course you would. And no it wasn't a trick question. That was what I meant before by 'lost our composure', actually, was us yelling at you. Listen up, Inmate! The thing I remembered, as exciting as it sounds, is something someone once told me. You explain it, Justine." Caroline said as Justine nodded and spoke up.

"Essentially, the twenty-two arcana represent a journey of sorts. The Fool embarks on a pilgrimage through the numbers, overcoming Death and eventually obtaining the World. In short, this journey is the tale of one's path through life." Justine said as Caroline nodded and spoke up.

"So we realized something. If this wild card thing, or the 'potential of the Fool' as I've heard it called, proves that you're a traveler somehow-" Caroline started saying as Justine spoke up to finish her sentence.

"-Then your becoming stronger will lead us all in the right direction. That may be the true meaning of rehabilitation. Or perhaps it is something beyond even that, for all we know. Regardless, one thing we can be sure if is that this list was written with the intent of being completed." Justine said as Caroline nodded and spoke up.

"Understanding and having faith in that intent is the change this list has brought about in us, to be honest." Caroline said before smirking at the confused look on Ren's face as she kept speaking.

"Not that somebody like you would be able to comprehend that. But for us, well, it was something really important to learn. Oh, and to be honest? I think we might know who that voice in my head was too. I can't tell you right now, though." Caroline said as Ren simply nodded his acknowledgement, getting the feeling this was a time to not be heard. Caroline crossed her arms and spoke up.

"I can see your confusion in your eyes. First of all, we don't have any way to actually prove it." Caroline said as Justine spoke up.

"Secondly, and this is difficult to say, if it is indeed true, everything we have come to know would be thrown into question. Regardless, we have grown able to reflect on ourselves thanks to you. This may not be something I should be saying to you as one of your wardens, but I have quite enjoyed our time spent together." Justine said with a closed eye smile as Caroline grinned and spoke up.

"You hear that, Inmate? You'd better overcome this ruin stuff! Keep surviving, all the way until we learn the truth of all this, together!" Caroline said as Justine nodded and spoke up.

"And on our end, we vow to do everything in our power to assist you as best we can, both for the sake of your future, and our own." Justine said sincerely as Ren's jaw dropped in awe at the sincerity he could feel from the twins, giving him the sense that his bond with the two had gotten even closer than before.

At that moment, the 'Strength' card appeared in his mind's eye, the 'VIII" becoming a 'IX' to signify that his Strength Confidant link with Caroline and Justine had reached rank 9, though no new skills were gained. Afterwards, Caroline spoke up once more, giving Ren a serious look while she spoke.

"So there you have it. Don't expect us to play nice just 'cause we believe in you, though! We're gonna be as strict as ever!" Caroline said as Justine spoke up.

"Indeed. Before we say farewell for now, it is time I assign you the final task that remains on this list to complete before you receive your immensely powerful reward." Justine said before looking seriously at Ren while she kept speaking.

"Now, for that task, Inmate, please bring us a Seth with 'High Counter'. Speak to us once again once you have obtained it." Justine said as Caroline spoke up.

"Listen up, Inmate! That's a Seth! One that knows High Counter!" You better put everything you got into this, Inmate!" Caroline said as Ren nodded. After a bit of fusion shenanigans and experimenting, Ren eventually returned to the others to continue the infiltration, seeing both Queen and Noir with stuff to say, so he approached Queen first and spoke up.

"Everything all right, Queen?" Joker asked Queen, who sighed as she spoke up.

"Not really. Oh, my. They can't even take a standard break, can they? How are these employees supposed to keep going at that rate?" Queen asked as Joker shrugged and walked over to Noir, and saw she was frowning.

"What's wrong, Noir?" Joker asked Noir, who looked at him and spoke up, a look of disbelief in her eyes.

"Why? Making his employees work until that can't function anymore is just horrible. No leader should ever do that to his workers." Noir said as Joker nodded and headed for the door. Draconis and Oracle looked up from their quiet conversation they'd been having as they saw Joker preparing to leave, Draconis speaking up first.

"Ah, you're back Joker. We ready to continue?" Draconis asked as Joker nodded, at which point Oracle smiled and spoke up.

"I see. All right then, time to go!" Oracle said as the group kept infiltrating the Palace. After beating some strong Shadows, Joker's 'Ariadne' Persona reached level 32 and learned the passive skill 'Fortified Moxy'. Skull grinned as he spoke up.

"Heh, this is gettin' good!" Skull said as Ariadne acquired Fortified Moxy. After a bit more running, Panther spoke up.

"Hey, Joker, look over there." Panther said as the group looked where she was pointing and saw a group of worker robots standing together as Panther spoke up.

"There's an elevator over there. You think we could go that way?" Panther asked. Fox spoke up.

"Hm, that is how it appears on the map as well, as it happens. However, with the infrared sensor as it is, we cannot proceed." Fox said as the group saw a press on the other side they could cross over to get there, making Mona speak up.

"Looks like we can keep going once we stop that press." Mona said as Queen frowned and spoke up.

"Wait a moment. Don't you think those robots over there are acting a little strange?" Queen said as the group heard the robots speaking up.

"FOR THE COMPANY! FOR OUR WONDERFUL PRESIDENT OKUMURA! I DO THIS WITH JOY! I DO THIS WITH JOY!" The robots said as Skull huffed and spoke up.

"Tch! They're still respectin' him even though they prolly see coworkers collapse from gettin' overworked? The eff?" Skull said as Queen and Draconis exchanged a significant glance as Draconis nodded for Queen to answer Skull's question which she did.

"It seems Draconis and I both thought the same thing. Namely, that what they're going through is basically mind control, or as close to it as a robot can get. They've been purposefully driven into a state of overadaptation." Queen said as Skull frowned and spoke up.

"Overwhat?" Skull asked in confusion as Fox frowned and spoke up.

"When a person is continually faced with oppression, they come to welcome its presence. Such psychological trickery is being used here. I, loathe as I am to admit this, I experienced it first-hand for many years." Fox said as Panther and Draconis winced, the former speaking up in a surprised/worried tone.

"Fox, you poor thing." Panther said. Draconis spoke up with a nod.

"Poor thing, indeed. What Fox went through is no different than what these employees are going through, if not worse, since a loved one of his was used to ensure said over-adaptation. I'm continually grateful each day that we were able to save Fox when we did, since who knows how much worse it could've gotten had we not intervened when we did." Draconis said sagely as Noir winced and spoke up.

"That said, so these robots exist because Father is aware that he's exploiting his employees for his own gain." Noir said sadly as Mona spoke up with a frown.

"Yes, that's true. We should be careful though. I doubt we'll be able to communicate with these ones. We'll probably go straight into battle when we approach them. I suggest you prepare beforehand!" Mona said as the group kept moving. As the group kept moving, Skull spoke up as he saw the yellow press come into view.

"So that's our goal there!" Skull said as Queen nodded approvingly before she spoke up.

"Right, Skull. But without stopping the press, I don't think we'll be able to get over there." Queen said as the group kept moving. A bit later, while fighting some Shadows, Fox and Skull exchanged nods as Fox spoke up.

"And now for a show!" Fox said as he and Skull spoke up in unison.

"IT'S SHOWTIME!" Fox and Skull said as the Showtime started with Skull sitting at a counter with Fox happily serving food.

"I'm runnin' on empty, man!" Skull said as Fox spoke with a smile.

"Not to worry! Behold! A saucy! zesty! masterpiece!" Fox said as he served up a bowl of ramen with red sauce to a grinning Skull who eagerly dug in, speaking up as he ate.

"Man, ain't nothin' better than this-huh?" Skull said before cutting himself off as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and saw the Shadow looking in on things, making him frown as he pulled his gun and spoke up.

"UGH! GET OUT, DUMBASS!" Skull said before he pulled the pin off a grenade that Fox tossed him and tossed it towards the Shadow while Fox took aim with his assault rifle before unloading a couple clips into the Shadow, one of the bullets hitting the grenade while Skull spoke up once more.

"HERE YOU GO! MY TREAT!" Skull said as the grenade exploded in the face of the horrified Shadow, who could only turn into black mist from the impact of the explosion, ending both the Showtime and the battle as Skull kept eating his ramen.

"Man, so good!" Skull said appreciatively as Fox smiled while the battle ended. The ensuing EXP gain from the battle brought Oracle, Noir, Fox, and Mona all to level 41. After felling a strong Shadow, Skull and Queen hit level 41, the level up allowing Queen to acquire the healing skill 'Mediarama'. Queen blinked as she spoke up.

"My Persona just learned a new skill!" Queen said as Johanna learned 'Mediarama'. After hopping around, Joker used a Lockpick on a locked chest to get the 'Armageddon Rod', which Skull grinned as he saw, before speaking up.

"Ooh, that looks stronger than what I got now! Lemme use it already!" Skull said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah, go for it, Skull." Joker said as Skull equipped the Armageddon Rod, grinning wider as it was a perfect fit while he spoke up.

"Alriiiight! Time to whoop some ass!" Skull said happily as the group kept moving. After fighting some tough Shadows, Panther hit level 41, where she passed on learning Matarunda. After dashing across some platforms, the group reached the other side where the group of robots was they'd seen before. Fox blinked before he spoke up.

"Hold a moment. Isn't that the path we saw before? If so, this will take us directly to those dangerous employees we saw earlier." Fox said as Mona spoke up.

"True, but we have to do this. I smell the Treasure somewhere past where they are. Brace yourselves!" Mona said as the group kept moving. As the group advanced, one of the robots spoke up in a mechanical voice.

"FOR THE COMPANY! FOR OUR WONDERFUL PRESIDENT OKUMURA! ANY APPROACHES THIS PLACE WILL BE CRUSHED! WE SHALL CARRY OUT OUR PRESIDENT'S WILL WITH GLEE!" The robot said as the fight began. It was a rough fight, but the group pulled through in the end thanks to some clever tactical planning by Queen and Draconis. After the fight, the ensuing EXP gain brought Joker, Draconis, and Oracle all to level 42, and also boosted Joker's 'Ariadne' Persona to level 33. Joker smirked as he leveled up.

"With this power, I become an even stronger leader!" Joker said as he leveled up. The level ups also granted Draconis a boon in that he learned the healing skill 'Diarama', making him smirk as he spoke up.

"Nice, an upgraded healing move! Finally starting to gain some competence as an all-around battler! Get a load of Smaug's new skill!" Draconis said happily as Smaug acquired 'Diarama' while Oracle giggled and looked at Draconis before speaking up.

"You're such a doof, Draconis. But I guess you're MY doof, so it all works itself out in the end." Oracle said, a fond smile on her face as she looked at Draconis, who grinned before smiling at Oracle while he spoke up.

"Damn right I'm your doof, Oracle." Draconis said with a smirk as the battle ended. After the battle, Skull blinked and spoke up.

"The heck? That was easy as hell compared to what I was expecting." Skull said as Mona winced and spoke up.

"Well, I mean they're overworked, brainwashed, AND forced to go up against an impossible enemy." Mona said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"Indeed. I believe that's what we in the business refer to as a 'suicide mission' or 'kamikaze tactic', where Okumura tries to use expendable resources to slow us down. Truly a despicable tactic that no one should resort to, but some do out of desperation to achieve that much-coveted victory." Draconis said sagely as Oracle nodded her agreement while Mona spoke up.

"Good point. I hope nobody ever treats me like that after I turn back into a human." Mona said as Draconis huffed and spoke up.

"Hmph! If that ever does happen, and you can manage the strength to do so Mona, I want you to seek me out, and if I can at all do so, we'll make whoever dares try that pay. I won't stand idly by and watch if I see someone I care about being treated like that, no matter who it is or who's treating them like that." Draconis said resolutely as he gave Mona a gentle but firm one-armed hug of comfort, trying not to squish him as he did so.

While doing so, Draconis ignored the quartet of near-unified 'Aww's that came from Panther, Oracle, Noir and Queen, as well as the twin laughs and eventual cries of pain that he could hear from Skull and Joker as they were smacked by Queen and Noir, Oracle having to hold the latter back from brandishing her axe at the two. Noir then looked at Mona in a mix of sympathy and shock as she spoke up.

"Mona, your true form is that of a human, isn't it? My apologies for forgetting such a key detail." Noir said, a sad look on her face as Panther spoke up.

"C-Come on, let's keep going! No need to look so down, Noir!" Panther said as Draconis stood up and nodded in agreement before looking at Noir and speaking up.

"Panther's right. I know this is your father we're dealing with, but I promise you we won't let him get away with any of what he's doing. We WILL change his heart and make him see reason! But we need you to stay strong and help us to accomplish this since you've more than earned the right to help us perform the change of heart. Can you pick yourself up and keep going, Noir?" Draconis asked Noir gently, giving her a look that was a cross of sympathetic and understanding.

Noir smiled and nodded as the group kept moving, Mona looking at Draconis in a mix of shock, awe and respect after how he'd cheered up Noir while the group kept moving. After going through the door, the group saw an elevator as Panther spoke up.

"What in the-!?" Panther said as the group looked over at where they could see a vat of what looked to be orange acid, and metal plates and what looked disturbingly similar to motionless robots being dumped into the vat. At that point, the group heard a mechanical voice speak up over an intercom.

"FUEL ADDITION HAS INCREASED OUTPUT! INCINERATOR OUTPUT HAS REACHED ROUGHLY 270%!" The group heard, prompting many gasps as Fox spoke up.

"No! The employees that broke down are being dumped into that incinerator!" Fox said as Queen gasped and spoke up in shock.

"No way! Can it be? Are they really turning all of the worn-down robots into fuel for whatever they're making?" Queen asked in horror as Joker, Skull, Mona and Draconis all exchanged pissed-off looks, all silently agreeing that Okumura needed his heart changed in the worst way. Queen kept speaking at that point.

"That means that the power source running the factory is all the broken-down and worn-out employees!" Queen said as Noir sighed and winced as she spoke up.

"No, it's worse than that. The power source is literally people's lives. Father's using his own employees to power his ambition!" Noir said, a sad look on her face as Panther spoke up, placing a hand gently on Noir's shoulder.

"Noir, easy does it. Are you okay?" Panther said as Draconis huffed and spoke up.

"Does she LOOK okay, Panther? Excuse my language in front of a bunch of ladies, but this needs to be said. That said, Noir is finding out that her father, and I use that term in the loosest possible sense of the word, is nothing more than an opportunistic, ruthless, un-caring bastard who could give two effing shits less if he kills a few of his employees to achieve his ambitions! Hell, let's not forget that this is the same cold, uncaring son of a bitch who was going to whore out his own daughter to some effed-up asshat just to further his own political aspirations, with all of I believe it was zero fucks given for how she felt about any of it.

How someone like that can even pretend to call themselves a father after treating their own child that way baffles and astounds me. I'm sorry Noir, but with a dad like that, you almost have it worse than those of us who didn't know their biological fathers, and considering what some of us here have been through, that's saying quite a lot. And as someone with experience with that, I can make that sort of crazy comparison.

It's shit like this that makes it that much more important that we not lose sight of what our objective is as Phantom Thieves! Screw being famous, or recognized, or any of that other superficial bullshit! We're in this to give courage to those who need it, to stop those who've gone too far into corruption, and most importantly, to fight for what's right!

Yet some of us seem to have lost sight of that in their brushes with fame, popularity and even the opposite sex. At least most of us didn't completely lose our heads when we lost our way briefly." Draconis said bluntly as he gave a pointed glare to Skull, his tone clearly showing how angry he was getting with the situation, though to his credit he was trying to keep his temper in check. Noir looked over at Draconis and spoke up.

"I appreciate your candor, Draconis. And I don't mind that you were a bit crass doing so, since every bit of what you said was right. We do need to keep what we're fighting for in mind. And for me, that's helping my father see the error of his ways, as well as achieving my dream of becoming a heroine of justice! That said, no Panther, I'm not okay." Noir said as Panther blinked and spoke up in surprise.

"Huh?" Panther said, looking at Noir in slight shock. Noir looked up and spoke up, a resolute look on her face as she spoke up.

"I'm not going to forgive my father for this! I can't believe this is how he sees his workers! Let us go, everyone! We will change his heart, no matter what!" Noir said in a determined sounding voice, almost jumping as she felt a hand gently pat her on the shoulder, turning in surprise to see Draconis smiling gently at her as he spoke up.

"That's the spirit, Noir! We will change his heart! He cannot keep getting away with what he does! I'm glad you've woken up enough to see that what he's doing is wrong! I'm sorry you have to realize something like that about your own father, but sometimes life is just a bitch like that. At least you know your dad, Noir! Some of us weren't even that lucky to have their biological father around in their lives! So I'm hoping we can safely change your father's heart so you can continue to have him in your life." Draconis said with a firm and resolved look on his face that made Noir smile as she gently hugged Draconis and spoke up, not seeing the proud smile on Oracle's face as she watched the scene between the two happen while Noir spoke.

"Draconis, thank you. You're right. We can do this, together!" Noir said as Mona nodded and spoke up.

"Right! Draconis is absolutely correct! We're with you all the way, Noir!" Mona said encouragingly as the group kept moving. As the group took the elevator down, Queen spoke up.

"This is the third area between the barracks and the factory, presumably also our last hurdle before we find the Treasure. This is the last one." Queen said as the group kept moving. After moving forward a bit, Oracle mentioned the presence of a Safe Room, but everyone's attention was quickly drawn to the window where they could see objects floating around outside. Panther gasped as she spoke up.

"This is called the airlock area according to the map. Wait, does that mean we have to go out into space!?" Panther asked as Fox spoke up.

"Putting it lightly, I believe such an action would lead to our extermination." Fox said as Oracle spoke up.

"Wellllll, apparently you'll be okay for like thirty seconds if you keep your eyes and mouth shut." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up dryly.

"Thirty seconds? Is that all? Interesting. And yes Panther, I do believe we might have to cross open space to get to the Treasure. Fortunately, this is why we have Oracle, Queen and myself, not to mention Joker. Between all of our minds, we can probably devise a way to survive space." Draconis said. Oracle nodded.

"This is true. Also, I find that weird, because honestly? I woulda thought we'd just explode out there." Oracle said as Draconis smiled at her and spoke up.

"Well, if we do, at least we'll do it together, for however much that comforts you, if it does at all, Oracle." Draconis said to Oracle. Skull frowned and spoke up.

"Oracle! Don't scare us, dammit!" Skull said as Draconis spoke up.

"Who's scared, Skull!? I'd think we'd be more scared of the idea of what other untold damage Noir's father could do if left unchecked?" Draconis said sagely as the group kept moving. They then ducked into the safe room that Oracle had mentioned, causing the 'Central Factory' safe room to be added to Joker's fast-travel list. Joker walked over to Skull and spoke up.

"Why're you so upset, Skull?" Joker asked Skull, who huffed and spoke up.

"Are you serious? C'mon, man! I'm pissed over how that guy treats his employees! What're they workin' so hard for, anyho-Oh, right, I remember now. They don't got a choice." Skull said as Joker merely nodded and walked over to Noir, where he spoke up.

"Probably a stupid question, but how're you holding up, Noir?" Joker asked Noir, who looked up at him and spoke up.

"Not that bad, to be honest. But still, this is terrible! I can't believe the company expects everyone to use themselves up entirely just for this place to thrive. That's inhumane and unethical!" Noir said as Joker looked into Noir's eyes and spoke up.

"Noir, look at me. We'll change your father's heart for sure. Don't worry. You gonna be okay?" Joker asked Noir, who nodded her agreement before getting a resolved look on her face as she spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. And you're right. Definitely! As his daughter, it's my responsibility more than anyone else's!" Noir said determinedly as Joker nodded and walked over to Fox before speaking up once more.

"You good, Fox? You seem rather bothered." Joker said to Fox, who spoke up.

"Ugh, I'm fine, Joker. To be honest, the employees in our reality are probably working their own lives away as well, which bothers me. I can't imagine they led their lives knowing they'd one day be used and disposed of by Okumura." Fox said as Joker nodded, before walking over to where he saw Draconis and Oracle talking to one another, stopping to listen in as he heard Oracle speaking to Draconis.

"...Were you serious before, Draconis? When you gave that speech to Noir about how she was lucky to have her dad in her life and all that?" Oracle asked Draconis, who blinked at Oracle before sighing and nodding as he spoke up.

"Yes, Oracle. I was very much serious. My apologies for catching you off guard with that. I forgot that I hadn't mentioned that to you yet. What I said to Noir before was the truth. Even though I was raised by Joker's dad, and Joker and I have the same mom, he and I have different biological fathers.

And unfortunately for me, mine never was bothered to be around to know his son. But to be honest, the way I see it? That's his loss! Besides, I've gotten along just fine thus far without him. Not to mention, if I really needed a father figure, I could always lean on Boss. He's been pretty damn good to Joker and I while we've been staying at Leblanc, even if he is a bit strict and hard on Joker most of the time.

If you ask me, I think he does it because he cares so much, even if he'll never actually admit to that. But don't feel bad for me. I've made a pretty good life for myself since moving here with Joker, I'd say. Met a bunch of incredible people, made a lot of amazing friends, and, most importantly, I got to meet you, Oracle. You might be shy, withdrawn and a bit of an unapologetic shut-in, but you're still one of the most amazing people I've ever met.

So consider it a compliment that we're so close right now, Oracle. Even if we were the ones to save you from yourself, you were the one who had the courage to take that first step into confronting your own demons. So never discount your own strength. And don't be afraid. If we end up having to go through space, I'll do all I can to keep you safe and get you back to Boss unharmed." Draconis said sincerely to Oracle, who looked into Draconis' eyes with a shy smile before speaking up, her flushed cheeks barely visible behind her visor while she spoke.

"I-Wow. I had no idea you were such a strong, caring individual, Draconis. This is neither the time or the place, though, for such a discussion. But you best believe we're making time after we change Okumura's heart to discuss where we stand. Because I think we're at the point where we can't keep lying to ourselves." Oracle said as Draconis nodded before Joker walked over and spoke up with a grin.

"Having a pretty deep conversation over here, are we?" Joker said as Draconis huffed and spoke up, giving Joker a dry yet unimpressed look while he spoke.

"Very funny, Joker. But yes. I was just explaining some things to Oracle here, since as it turns out I forgot to mention a few pieces of my past to her. But that's my fault." Draconis said firmly as Oracle turned to Joker and smiled as she spoke up.

"Oh, didn't know you were there, Joker. Sorry you caught us discussing things unrelated to the mission. I promise our focus is on the job at hand and not on our feelings. That said, though, I can't believe it. Those employees are just resources to Okumura, just machines that he can use and dispose. I really hope there aren't too many companies like this." Oracle said as Joker and Draconis winced as the latter spoke up, looking at Oracle as he spoke.

"Oracle, there are some like this company, but not that many. It was just Noir's bad luck her father ended up with one of the greediest, most stone-cold hearts there is. But we'll change it and make him hopefully change his ways. I only regret that it will likely bring some serious stigma down on Noir as a result, but that might be unavoidable at this point." Draconis said sagely. Joker nodded as he spoke up.

"Draconis is right, unfortunately. If we succeed in changing the heart of Noir's dad, she'll be saddled with the label of 'a criminal's daughter'. But I get the feeling she doesn't care about that. She's more worried about others than about herself. Which makes it that much more unreal that we took this long to get to know her." Joker said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"Agreed. Granted, I got a bit longer to get to know her sort of, since we met through Queen inviting me to join the student council, but that's besides the point." Draconis said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Correct. But Oracle, never doubt that Draconis and I will always be here for you, even if in my case it's moreso in the capacity of a protective older brother who's watching over the younger sister he never got to have since our mom stopped having children after she had Draconis. So he and I are her only kids. But I mean it when I say you're like the younger sister I never got to have, Oracle. I'd say the same for Draconis, but I think we both know you're a lot more precious to him than just as a little sister." Joker said as Draconis blinked before speaking up, face slightly red.

"Sh-Shut up, Joker! You don't need to throw my feelings for Oracle in my face like that, you know! And for the record, Oracle feels the same way. But she's taking her time in sorting out if she can wrap her head around the idea of relationships and dating before we decide if we're going to make the move to being more than friends.

Maybe if this school dance happens that everyone's been hyping up, provided the student council agrees to make it happen in place of the sharing festival that was planned, Oracle and I can re-assess things there, assuming we decide to go to that together. Which, to be honest? I would actually kinda enjoy that, since I think it'd be neat to be the one to escort her to her first school dance, assuming she didn't go to one before her shut-in phase." Draconis said honestly as Oracle smiled and spoke up.

"Nope, I can confirm that I've never been to any sort of dance before. But to be honest with you, I wouldn't be adverse to going to one with you. I think I can trust you to keep me safe and not leave my side for something like that." Oracle said to Draconis, who smiled and nodded as Joker walked towards the door. After quickly fast traveling to and from the Velvet Room to make sure there wasn't an active Fusion Alarm, Joker saw that Queen and Panther had stuff to say, so he walked over to Queen and spoke up.

"What's up, Queen?" Joker asked Queen as she spoke up.

"Not much. You know, this Palace is full of shoddy, replaceable robots, which sickens me. That's probably just how Okumura sees his employees." Queen said as Joker nodded and walked over to Panther, who he spoke up to.

"You holding up okay, Panther?" Joker asked Panther, who huffed and spoke up.

"Honestly? Not really. I can't believe Noir's dad! All his employees are just robots to him! Worse than that, he even uses his daughter so he can climb his way to the top. To be honest, I agree with what Draconis said about him earlier, even if I wouldn't probably use some of the language that Draconis used, though he himself apologized in advance for it, so I can't be mad at him for having a sailor's mouth to rival Skull's." Panther said with a giggle. She then frowned as she kept speaking.

"But for real, what kind of Treasure would a person like that even have?" Panther asked as Joker shrugged, not sure of that himself. Joker then called the group to the table for another meeting, where Mona spoke up.

"What are you gonna do, Joker?" Mona asked Joker who spoke up.

"First and foremost, let's get a progress report to verify how far along we are." Joker said as Mona spoke up.

"Hm, good question. To be honest, this extreme scenery rally makes it clear how distorted the Palace ruler is at this point." Mona said as Noir spoke up.

"We're about halfway now, right? We need to hurry up and change my father's heart!" Noir said as Draconis spoke up.

"Close, Noir, but not quite. We're closer to 2/3rds of the way through, given we found two of the three Will Seeds for this Palace and we are presumably in the last area before we find the Treasure route. So I'd say we're likely between 2/3rds and 3/4ths of the way done." Draconis pointed out. Fox spoke up.

"Draconis is correct. But also, now is not the time to get hasty, Noir. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but let us go about this one step at a time." Fox said as Mona spoke up, drawing Joker's attention away from the sight of Oracle subconsciously leaning into Draconis as he spoke.

"Anything else to discuss, Joker?" Mona asked as Joker nodded his agreement and spoke up.

"Yes. How is everyone holding up? Are we all good to keep going?" Joker asked, smiling as he saw Draconis wrap an arm around Oracle's waist. Queen winced as she spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Joker. But I think I'm starting to lose focus somewhat." Queen said as Mona spoke up.

"Frankly? Other than maybe you, Draconis and possibly both Panther and Oracle, everyone's exhausted. As such, it would be dangerous to fight like this. Anything else to discuss?" Mona asked Joker, who frowned at Mona's report before he spoke up.

"No, I think that covers it. Let me have a bit to think about it before I make a decision on if we're continuing or not given how many of you seem to be exhausted." Joker said. Skull nodded as he spoke up.

"Understood. Let's go." Skull said. After a bit, Joker spoke up.

"After pondering it carefully, I think the best move is to have Queen and Noir tag out with Panther and Skull, and try to get through the rest of the Palace with that lineup while Draconis stays out on the front lines with me, with Oracle providing backup from inside of Necronomicon." Joker decided as the others nodded, and the needed tagouts were done so that Panther and Skull were out on the front lines with Draconis and Joker, while Fox, Queen, Noir, and Mona were on the backups with Oracle being both backup and starting lineup as the navi inside Nerconomicon.

Joker then stood towards the door and prepared to keep going. Mona saw this and spoke up.

"Ready? Let's go, Joker!" Mona said as the group kept going. The group saw what they assumed to be a red wall, only to find on a closer inspection that it was in fact a door blocked by a red wall. Queen frowned as she spoke up.

"It looks like this door is locked. As such, we'll have to find some way to open it. After passing through an airlock to cross to the other side, Skull spoke up in shock.

"For real!? We just flew through the open vacuum of space without any space suits or anything. Talk about insane!" Skull said as Queen spoke up.

"That wasn't quite open space per se, but it was still scary enough to probably shave years off of my life." Queen said as Panther spoke up.

"At least now other stuff won't seem as scary anymore, right?" Panther said as Draconis nodded, looking down with a fond smile at Oracle, who'd huddled into his chest as they flew between airlocks, before speaking up.

"You can let go now, Oracle. We're out of space now, for now. You're all right." Draconis said, gently patting Oracle on the head, making her look up sheepishly and speak up.

"Oh, um right. That was quicker than I thought. Thanks for not freaking out that I huddled into you like that, Draconis. Eheh." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"I didn't mind it at all, Oracle. I thought it was adorable, if anything." Draconis said smoothly before looking to see if anyone was looking before gently putting his arms around Oracle to hug her, smiling at her as he spoke up.

"I don't mind if you need to huddle into me like that at all, Oracle. That's what I'm here for, after all." Draconis said as the group kept moving, eventually finding a console that Joker used and caused the red walls to leave the doors, as Oracle blinked and spoke up.

"Oh, looks like that made the red doors so they're now unlocked. Let's check it out, Joker." Oracle said as Panther giggled and spoke up.

"We'll check it out, sure. My question is, will you be too busy checking out Draconis' suit to also check it out?" Panther said teasingly as Oracle flushed in embarrassment and Draconis spoke up in a mock-annoyed tone, giving Panther a dry and unimpressed look while he spoke.

"Must you tease her like that, Panther? You know she only did that because she was scared of going through open space, which I don't think any of us can blame her for." Draconis said simply. Panther nodded and the group kept moving. After checking the doors, which had little of value in them, the group took the elevator down to another area and kept moving. The group looked out at the visible display of space around them as Draconis spoke up with widened eyes.

"Holy crap! Is that all space!? We're gonna be here awhile, methinks. Better get comfy, Oracle. We're probably gonna be going in and out of a lot of airlocks." Draconis said as Fox nodded and spoke up to voice his agreement.

"Indeed, Draconis. It appears as though we will indeed need to move about in the same manner as before." Fox said as Queen spoke up.

"Wow. To think we'd end up flying through space this time." Queen said as Skull spoke up.

"Relax, Queen. If we can handle floating banks and scorching deserts, we can handle a bit of space travel. If all else fails, I'm right here if you need someone to lean on." Skull said, getting an idea from how Oracle had huddled into Draconis for comfort during the airlock travel, and idly wondering if he could make the same thing happen with him and Queen. Queen smiled at Skull and spoke up.

"Thank you, Skull. I'll keep that in mind. That said, funny you should mention our past experiences. To be honest? The awe I felt at seeing that flying bank feels like a distant memory at this point." Queen said as the group kept moving. After traveling through the airlock and coming out the other side, Panther gasped and spoke up at the sight of a red port.

"Huh? Wait a second, is that port not working?" Panther asked as the group looked around before Queen spoke up.

"Some airlocks are working, but others aren't?" Queen said as Draconis and Oracle looked at each other and nodded as Draconis spoke up.

"Looks to me like another puzzle for us to solve, probably involving toggling ports on and off this time. Odds are we'll find our last Will Seed for this Palace in this section as well, if I had to guess. So let's take this carefully." Draconis said as Oracle smiled and nodded.

"I agree with Draconis. The more carefully we map this place out and explore it, the better our odds of finding not only the final Will Seed, but the Treasure too." Oracle said as Draconis nodded before Mona spoke up.

"That said, I hope we can reach our goal with just the ones that are on, but I realize we probably can't, in which case we might have to defer to Oracle and Draconis, and maybe Queen, to get us through this puzzle." Mona said. Oracle spoke up with a smile.

"Mwehehe, seems do-able enough. Hmm, then again, on the other hand? We need to get past here, though, and that might be tricky without figuring out how the ports work. Oh well, guess we can't figure anything out by sitting around. Let's keep going." Oracle said as the group kept moving. After going through another airlock, the group saw two symbols on the nearby wall, making Panther frown as she spoke up.

"Are these supposed to be some sort of switches?" Panther asked. Noir spoke up.

"Seems like it. Ah, but look! There is something written above each one of these potential switches. See these symbols above each one?" Noir asked as the group nodded and Draconis spoke up.

"Ah, yes. Unless I'm mistaken, those are the symbols for 'Alpha' and 'Omega'. So maybe hitting the switches under each symbols toggles the airlocks of that symbol on or off?" Draconis guessed as the group shrugged and kept moving. Joker then pulled the Omega lever, and blinked as the Omega symbol airlock switched on and the Alpha symbol airlock switched off. Mona blinked as well and spoke up.

"Aha, looks as if Draconis' theory was once again spot on. It appears as though these levers switch the airlocks on and off! It looks like this should open our path through here. Now that we know how these work, this is all on you, Joker! And maybe Draconis and Oracle if they want to help guide us through this puzzle." Mona said as Joker and Draconis nodded as the group kept moving, the latter being careful not to jostle Oracle, who was still latched onto his waist for dear life, which made Draconis smile as he fondly leaned down to give Oracle some head pats because he could.

After beating up some Shadows while moving through the airlock, Mona, Fox, and Noir all hit level 42, the level ups giving Noir a new skill in the form of the passive skill 'Psy Boost', making Noir smile as she spoke up.

"A new skill! Now I can work even harder!" Noir said happily as Milady acquired Psy Boost. After switching the airlocks and going through a couple out of the way airlocks, the group found a strong-looking enemy guarding a door that had Draconis grinning as Mona spoke up.

"Oh? Judging from the out-of-the-way Shadow placement here, I'd say we've found the final Will Seed of this Palace. Now to beat the guard up and claim the prize." Mona said as Draconis nodded agreeably. As the group approached the Shadow, Noir spoke up warily.

"Um, that Shadow looks really strong, you guys. We'd better make sure we're ready to fight it. Are we fully prepared, Joker?" Noir asked as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Yep. Let's go. Sooner we beat that guy, the sooner we can get to the rest of the Palace with our new crystal in hand." Joker said as the robotic Shadow spoke up in a mechanical voice.

"HOW BOLD OF YOU TO SLACK OFF, IN COMPLETE DISREGARD FOR YOUR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. IT SEEMS WE HAVE A FEW IMPUDENT WORKERS WHO ARE IN NEED OF SOME EXTRA TRAINING!" The Shadow said before shifting forms into that of a monstrous being as Noir spoke up.

"Don't give us that! Your so-called training is nothing more than torture! Let's go, everyone!" Noir said as the battle began. The battle was long, but in the end, some lucky shocks from Skull enabled the Technical knockdowns that set up the Hold-Up that led to an All-Out Attack, which cut to a red backdrop with Joker leaping onto the screen and tightening up his glove with a grin on his face as he spoke up.

"Been nice battling you, but as they say, the show's over!" Joker said as the enemy twitched and spurted black stuff from a hole in its body as the screen showed a spot of broken glass and along the left side of the screen the words 'THE SHOW'S OVER' were written in bold white lettering as the battle ended. The ensuing EXP gain brought Skull, Queen and Panther to level 42. After the fight, Noir giggled and spoke up.

"Hee hee! We did it! Now we can go through the door!" Noir said as Draconis spoke up.

"Agreed, now to claim our prize and get back to the rest of this Palace, which should be very little since we'll soon have all three Will Seeds for this Palace." Draconis said as Oracle nodded, still sticking close by Draconis, to his amusement. Mona grinned and spoke up with a closed-eye smile.

"All right! Let's grab that Will Seed!" Mona said as the group kept moving. After striding through the door, the group seized the 'Blue Greed Seed' from its pedestal. As the group looked on in shock, the three Will Seeds combined together to form a crystal shaped like a three-faced skull, as Joker accepted the 'Crystal Of Greed' that resulted from the fusion. Noir and Oracle both gaped in shock, this being their first time viewing such an event. Draconis smiled at Oracle as he spoke up.

"So, how was that, ladies? Pretty crazy, right?" Draconis said as Noir nodded and spoke up.

"Yep. Wasn't expecting that to happen. In any case, that's the third Will Seed, and it's ours now! Sorry, Father!" Noir said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"We're that much closer to finishing this Palace up! Now we just have to finish this airlock puzzle! Hope you can hang on tight, Oracle!" Draconis said with a smile as Oracle just shyly nodded, having already pre-emptively huddled into Draconis' chest at the mention of airlocks, making Noir and Panther giggle while Skull and Joker gave Draconis knowing grins as the group kept moving. After smacking around more Shadows, Joker and Draconis hit level 43, with Joker smirking as he spoke up.

"I leveled up!" Joker said confidently as Draconis spoke up with a wry smirk.

"So you did. But that's only from a statistical standpoint. I too leveled up, but I don't always brag about it." Draconis said with a smirk as Joker spoke up.

"You also leveled up your closeness to Oracle too though, so you have less reason to brag, I'd say." Joker pointed out as Draconis pouted at Joker bringing up his growing closeness to Oracle, before he shrugged and nodded while he spoke up.

"Whatever. Fair point. Let's keep moving." Draconis said as the group kept moving. After a bit, Fox spoke up.

"Hm, soaring through space like this is quite fun once you've grown accustomed to it." Fox said as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"Truth, Fox! I bet bungee jumping is nothing like this! Uh, not that I've ever done it to be able to make that comparison or anything." Skull said as Panther frowned and spoke up.

"Ugh, will you guys be serious for one second?" Panther asked as Draconis spoke up.

"Chill, sis. They're just easing the tension by being their usual selves. Besides, if anyone here has reason to complain, it'd be Oracle, but I haven't heard a peep from her so far, so I think she's quite enjoying herself." Draconis said before looking down to the redhead huddled into his jacket for comfort and patting her on the head as he kept speaking.

"Aren't you, Oracle?" Draconis asked with a fond grin as Oracle looked up and sheepishly nodded before speaking up.

"Y-Yeah. It's not so bad if you have a big fluffy boy-I mean safety net to hold onto. Mwehehe?" Oracle said as Draconis' eyes went wide before he spoke up.

"Wait. Were you about to say what I think you were, Oracle? And for the record, if you were, I wouldn't have minded it one bit. But I'm surprised to hear you be the first of us two to bring that up." Draconis said to a red-faced Oracle who shook her head quickly before speaking up.

"N-No, I wasn't about to say boyfriend. Nuh-uh." Oracle said as Draconis grinned before speaking up.

"Mm-hmm. Sure you weren't, Oracle. Sure you weren't. And Skull hasn't been trying to copy your little tactic with Queen." Draconis deadpanned, getting twin sputters of protest from the aforementioned Thieves as Queen spoke up while giving Draconis a mildly rebuking frown.

"Shut up, Draconis! I think it's adorable that Skull's trying to get me to cuddle him, if a bit awkward with my current suit and all. I'm trying not to put a spike through him by accident, after all." Queen said as Skull spoke up with a grin and a nod.

"I don't mind. It'd be my fault for being careless anyways, Queen. And if anything, it's Oracle's fault for giving me the idea." Skull said jokingly as Draconis huffed and frowned at Skull before speaking up in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Real mature, Skull. Blame it on the frightened lady. Some manly man you are." Draconis said in a mock-offended tone, making Panther and Oracle both giggle at his remark, even if the latter's giggles were muted by the fact her face was buried in Draconis' shirt. Joker saw some yellow switches and hit the yellow Alpha switch as Oracle looked up and spoke up.

"Ooh, check it out! Now we can keep moving forward! Nice work, Joker." Oracle said as the others nodded and the group kept moving. After a few more airlocks, the group landed in a room with an elevator as Noir spoke up with a smile.

"It looks like this is the end. We did it, you guys!" Noir said as the others nodded while Draconis smirked before leaning in to gently pat Oracle's head and speak up.

"You can let go now, Oracle. We're done with the airlocks now. We're at the end of the puzzle. Not to say that I didn't totally enjoy that, because I so frickin' did." Draconis said before smiling as Oracle eventually pried herself off of him, still red-faced at having to huddle into him like she had. Panther did a closed-eye smile as she spoke up.

"That was simple! Let's keep blazing a path through here!" Panther said as Joker spoke up.

"That was only 'simple', as you put it Panther, because Draconis happens to be good at reading a map, which ls lucky since our usual navigators were, let's go with, otherwise pre-occupied?" Joker said with a teasing grin as Draconis spoke up while giving Joker a dry glare.

"Shut up, Joker. I guarantee you you'd have done the same thing if Yoshizawa had been here too, so don't even try to give Oracle or Queen crap about their idea. You can give Skull crap all you want since he teased Oracle, but not Oracle or Queen. Got it?" Draconis said bluntly as Joker nodded, turning to tease Skull relentlessly as Oracle smiled at Draconis and spoke up happily.

"Mwehehe, my hero." Oracle said before checking that no one was looking before sneakily kissing Draconis on the cheek, to his surprise. Luckily for him, only Queen noticed, and she was too busy staying close to Skull and defending him to a grinning Joker to say anything. Draconis turned towards Oracle and spoke up.

"Feeling bold, are we Oracle? Not that I mind." Draconis said as Oracle spoke up.

"I was just feeling grateful to you, that's all. Let's finish this Palace already!" Oracle said as Draconis nodded his agreement and spoke up with a sly smirk on his face.

"As you wish, Oracle." Draconis said in a fake-simp voice as the group kept moving, Joker and Draconis both laughing at the confused looks on Skull and Mona's faces. Joker then operated the lift to head down, only to find more airlocks waiting for them, making Draconis groan as he spoke up.

"Crap. Did I speak too soon?" Draconis said sheepishly as Oracle giggled in anticipation of getting to cuddle into Draconis' shirt more while she spoke up.

"More airlocks? Good! More chances to huddle into you." Oracle said teasingly as Skull grinned before speaking up while turning to face Queen, quite clearly liking Oracle's idea.

"Ah, good idea, Oracle. You heard her, right Queen?" Skull said teasingly to a now red-faced Queen, who muttered what sounded like 'Don't get used to this.' under her breath as she nodded. Draconis grinned, having heard her, before patting Oracle on the head gently as the group found a safe room and went inside. Noir spoke up.

"We've found a safe room, guys!" Haru said as the 'Transfer Line' was added to the fast-travel list. Skull spoke up..

"Sweet, with this location marked, we should be able to head right back here if we need to." Skull said with a smirk. Joker then headed to the door to keep going. Queen spoke up.

"We're continuing already? Roger, let's go. We're counting on you, Joker!" Queen said as Oracle stuck her tongue out playfully and spoke up.

"You say that like you're not also counting on Skull to keep you close to him." Oracle teased as Skull spoke up with a slight frown.

"That's rich, coming from the girl who almost called Draconis her boyfriend earlier. Maybe he's more in there than he thinks?" Skull said with a grin as Draconis spoke up.

"That's irrelevant, Skull. But I won't deny that was flattering to hear her say that." Draconis said with a smile as the group kept moving. Oracle eventually spoke up after the first airlock.

"Hm? What? Hold on a second, guys. Something's not right here. Double locked ports!? Also, once we pass through this airlock on our left, the Treasure'll be right in front of us if my readings are accurate." Oracle said as Draconis smirked before speaking up with an amused chuckle while patting Oracle on the head.

"I'm legitimately impressed that you can still get readings while you're huddled into me like that, Oracle." Draconis said teasingly as Oracle pouted before playfully sticking her tongue out at Draconis childishly as she spoke up.

"Need I remind you that I'm the one choosing to cuddle into you Draconis, and not the other way around?" Oracle pointed out dryly as Draconis nodded before grinning as he spoke up.

"Good point, milady. Forgive this fool his poor attempt at a joke." Draconis said in a faux-snooty tone, making Joker and Skull crack up while Fox frowned and spoke up.

"Was that supposed to sound like me, Draconis? If so that was terrible enunciation!" Fox said as Draconis winced at Fox's reaction before glaring at Fox while he spoke up.

"I was teasing Oracle, Fox. I wasn't trying to imitate you. I'm sorry it sounded that way to you." Draconis said as Oracle spoke up.

"Inari, shut up. He didn't imitate you on purpose, so quit getting your metaphoric panties in a knot." Oracle said huffily as both Skull and Draconis cracked up at this, finding the idea of Fox wearing panties oddly hilarious and even Joker grinned at Oracle's remark before turning to face Fox as he spoke up.

"Hey Fox, might want to have some Bufu on stand by since I'm not sure if that was an Agi or an Agilao level burn she just gave you." Joker said as Skull, Draconis, and even Oracle all burst out laughing at Joker's playful quip, while Mona, Queen, and Panther all rolled their eyes at the joke and Noir giggled before Fox spoke up.

"I see. I retract my previous objections then. My apologies." Fox said. Skull then spoke up.

"Sweet! Or so I would say, but you know somethin', Oracle? Uh, but this one ain't workin', seems like. Oh well, guess we'll just hafta find another switch, huh?" Skull said with a grin as Noir nodded and spoke up.

"You're right, Skull! That could very well be the only way. Let's do what we can." Noir said as the group kept moving. After beating some Shadows, Oracle hit level 43. After the fight the group went through a nearby green airlock, which once they emerged from it, switched off and the one in front of them switched on, making Noir blink as she spoke up.

"Oh, that's strange. The path we came on has been closed off?" Noir said as Draconis spoke up after a moment, having been stroking his chin in thought after hearing Noir's remark.

"I could be wrong on this, Noir, but I'd say those are what we call one-way airlocks, in that you can come through them but not go back through them, if that makes sense." Draconis said as Queen nodded and spoke up.

"Good point, Draconis. Regardless, the airlocks seem to have changed. Let's proceed with caution." Queen said as the group kept moving. After knocking all the Shadows down, Joker called for the All-Out Attack which took the form of Panther smacking the enemies with her whip before the screen showed a shot of Panther posing with a cute wink over a white sreen with various objects on it and the words 'OMG! We are SO awesome!' on it in bold lettering as she spoke up.

"Heh, the beautiful rose has thorns!" Panther said as the enemy dissolved into mist to end the fight. The ensuing EXP gain raised Fox to level 43 and Joker's 'Ariadne' Persona to level 34. The level up gave Ariadne the passive skill 'Evade Phys'. Joker spoke up with a shrug.

"I give, I give! Here's a new skill!" Joker said as Ariadne acquired 'Evade Phys'. On top of that, Fox gained the physical skill 'Heat Wave'. Fox grinned and spoke up.

"I'd like to try this skill out soon!" Fox said as Goemon acquired 'Heat Wave'. After beating some Shadows, the ensuing EXP gain brought Skull, Mona, Noir, and Queen all to level 43. In addition, the level ups gave Skull the Elec skill 'Mazionga', Mona the passive skill 'Wind Boost', and Queen the support skill 'Nuke Break'. All three spoke up.

"Aww yeah! A new skill!" Skull said as Captain Kidd acquired 'Mazionga'. At that point, Mona smirked and spoke up.

"This skill fits me like a glove!" Mona said as Zorro acquired 'Wind Boost'. Draconis chuckled and spoke up, giving Mona an inquisitive look while he spoke.

"I think that's the only time you've ever mentioned wearing gloves, Mona. Yet I'm nearly sure you have gloves on in your Metaverse suit. Is that intentional?" Draconis asked as Mona shrugged and Queen spoke up.

"I learned a new skill!" Queen said as Johanna acquired 'Nuke Break'. After the battle, Skull spoke up.

"Shadow defeated! Nice work." Skull said as the group kept moving. After a few more airlocks, Joker pressed a button to open up the needed orange airlock as Oracle spoke up after looking over.

"Oh? Good job, you opened up the goal airlock! Good work! Let's head on back to the start and get to the goal!" Oracle said as Joker nodded and a few more airlocks later, the group found the goal airlock and went through it, Oracle and Queen quickly backing away from Draconis and Skull respectively with red faces as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"That was fun, but still! Oooh, we're finally reachin' the end. That shit was easy!" Skull said as Draconis spoke up with a huff.

"Speak for yourself, Skull. I had to constantly make sure I didn't drop Oracle while we were going through those airlocks because she kept squirming when we'd get into space unintentionally. At least Queen presumably doesn't squirm around while in open space." Draconis said as a red-faced Oracle shyly spoke up, not realizing that Draconis had felt her squirming.

"Sorry. I was trying to get comfortable, if we're being honest here." Oracle said sheepishly as a red-faced Queen spoke up.

"Shut up, Draconis! So what if I was enjoying cuddling with Skull? That's none of your concern." Queen said brusquely as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"You enjoyed that, Queen!? Awesome!" Skull said happily as Oracle spoke up, her words making Draconis have to stifle laughter as she spoke.

"Uh, Skull? All you did was follow Joker." Oracle said as Draconis grinned at Oracle and spoke up.

"Damn, Oracle. Once again, you remind us all why you're the master of the roast. That was god-tier right there." Draconis said appreciatively as Oracle did a mock bow and spoke up.

"Thank you, thank you. You're too kind, Draconis. Mind you, I didn't have to do much, since Skull pretty much set himself up for it." Oracle said as the group kept moving as Skull subtly flipped off Draconis and Oracle, making Joker laugh as he saw it.

The group then saw a button in front of them that Joker pressed to summon an elevator which the group took down to an area marked 'Weapons Production'. Fox blinked as he spoke up after the group looked around at all the containers labeled 'BigBang'.

"Did you notice? Hm, odd. These are the parts we saw in the factory area." Fox said as Queen spoke up.

"So this is where they're being used." Queen said as Panther spoke up with a frown.

"But what are they, exactly? It's hard to tell just from looking, to be honest." Panther said as Draconis spoke up.

"I could be wrong, but from the shape of the containers, they put me vaguely to mind of fuel containers, like the kind people used to put gasoline into when they'd have to walk fuel to their cars sometimes. So maybe they're storing fuel of some sort?" Draconis guessed. Skull spoke up.

"Who cares? C'mon, man! Dude, let's leave the factory tour for later. We gotta focus on the treasure right now!" Skull said as Mona blinked in surprise and spoke up, his words making both Oracle and Draconis have to stifle laughter as they heard what Mona had to say.

"Huh. It's rare to hear Skull say something sensible, but it happened here. Well done, Skull." Mona said, surprising everyone by complimenting Skull as the group kept moving. After a bit, they found another Safe Room, this one labeled 'Weapon Production'. Panther spoke up at that point.

"Let's make a note of this place so that we can come right back here later, like when we've secured our route and sent the calling card. Joker walked over to Queen and spoke up.

"What's up, Queen?" Joker asked as Queen spoke up with an audible sigh.

"Not much, Joker. Um, I get that there's no gravity in space and all, but, be honest. Don't you think this Palace is going just a bit overboard?" Queen asked as Joker nodded and walked over to Panther and spoke up.

"How're you holding up, Panther?" Joker asked Panther, who giggled and spoke up with a closed-eye smile.

"It feels SO weird to be in zero gravity. My body feels so light, but I can't move around nearly as easily as I expect." Panther said as Joker blinked and nodded before moving over to Fox and speaking up.

"You seem deep in thought, Fox." Joker said as Fox nodded his agreement before speaking up.

"Indeed. I was just pondering the applications of space rules in my art. I wonder if the absence of gravity can be utilized in my work somehow? Perhaps this experience will open my eyes to it?" Fox said as Joker spoke up.

"It's possible, Fox. After all, if Skull and Draconis can stumble into the secret of zero-G cuddling, you can figure out how to make zero-G art." Joker said with a laugh as he walked over to Oracle and spoke up, laughing as he did so at Draconis flipping him off, having heard his 'zero-G cuddling' comment previously. Joker looked at Oracle and spoke up.

"Heh, someone seems in a good mood. Have fun hiding yourself in Draconis' shirt during that airlock puzzle?" Joker teased Oracle as Draconis spoke up while giving Joker a dry and unimpressed frown.

"Quit teasing her, Joker. I guarantee you Yoshizawa would've been doing the same damn thing to you if she'd been here, and we both know it. So don't be a hypocrite by teasing us." Draconis said huffily as Oracle giggled and spoke up.

"Down, Draconis. I can handle Joker. And to your question, Joker? I'm just SO glad I read that article on outer space the other day! It came in handy, didn't it? Although, this is actually just a Palace, so I guess it's not gonna do us any good." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"You say that like we couldn't decide to actually take a trip into real outer space someday, Oracle. Stop fretting so easily, you silly minx." Draconis said as Oracle nodded and spoke up with a bit of a frown on her face.

"Good point, Draconis. You're right." Oracle said as Joker walked off, but not before flinging a parting shot at Draconis over his shoulder as he went.

"Next time, just let me know you want me to clear off so you can kiss her. I can take a hint, Draconis." Joker said teasingly as Draconis blinked before his cheeks went pink in embarrassment and he flipped Joker off once more as Oracle giggled at the mortified look on Draconis' face as Joker headed towards the door of the Safe Room. Fox then spoke up.

"Well, since it appears Draconis is too embarrassed to say it, I'll say it for him. Ready to continue, Joker? Let's get back to exploring." Fox said as Draconis huffed and spoke up.

"Shut up, Fox! Joker's last comment was completely uncalled for. I don't care if I did mention kissing Oracle the once in front of him, he doesn't get to then tease me about it. Jeez!" Draconis said dryly as Oracle smiled and spoke up, her next words making Skull grin widely at what Oracle said next.

"Ignore him, Draconis. He's probably just salty because he's not gotten any action from Yoshizawa for awhile." Oracle said teasingly as both Joker and Draconis' jaws dropped at Oracle's comment, before the latter burst out laughing, giving Oracle a wry grin as he spoke up that had Oracle subtly blushing behind her mask as she felt her heart beat a bit faster and skip a couple beats when looking at Draconis' grin.

"Oracle, that was genius! Not strictly true, but genius just the same. But if Yoshizawa asks if I said that, I'm denying it up and down, since I'd rather not be a bad wingman for Joker." Draconis said as the group kept moving. After a bit more running, the group found a dead-end of sorts with a silvery wispy object behind a glass enclosure, making Mona grin widely as he spoke up.

"Yes, we've found it! This is it!" Mona said as Fox frowned and spoke up.

"But we haven't found any information about the mental collapses. That bothers me, to be honest." Fox said as Draconis spoke up.

"Fox, I'll admit I'm a bit skeptical too, but my gut tells me we might stumble onto something big once we change Noir's dad's heart. And my gut is almost never wrong." Draconis said, leaving unsaid that the one time his gut was wrong was the time that he'd let Mona mislead him into believing that Joker had decided to take up with Oracle, prompting Draconis to then get irritated, tune the conversation out for a bit, and then only tune back in in time to hear what he perceived as Skull making aspersions on Oracle's honor and character, after which he had angrily lashed out and knocked Skull out with one punch and stormed off, since they'd all moved on from that incident as far as Draconis was aware. Panther nodded to Fox as she spoke up.

"Oh, yeah. You're right." Panther said. Skull shrugged and spoke up.

"Maybe he's hidin' it? We got this far. Wouldn't it be better to just squeeze the truth outta the guy?" Skull said as Joker spoke up.

"AFTER we change his heart. That comes first, above all else. Besides, if Draconis' gut instinct is right, and it usually is, I get the feeling we might run into a certain masked criminal we've been after sooner rather than later, so we should be prepared for that eventuality." Joker said as Draconis' eyes widened briefly at the mention of Black Mask before they narrowed slightly as he spoke up.

"Oh crap, that's right! I completely forgot about that son of a bitch Black Mask until now! We've not seen them so far in this Palace, have we!? Granted, we've not seen him in the other Palaces either, but I have a feeling this target's too high-profile not to bait him into showing himself potentially. And if that is the case, mayhaps we can use that to our advantage and set a trap of our own for them. And now that we have Oracle on our side, it should be even easier to set a trap, especially if it's to catch her mother's potential killer." Draconis said as Oracle grinned ferally and spoke up.

"My mother's potential killer, you say? Mwehehe, I'm sold. When we get back, it's time to start planning a trap." Oracle said as Noir nodded and spoke up.

"Not sure who this Black Mask is you're all speaking of, but that plan's fine by me." Noir said. Draconis spoke up to explain the details of Black Mask to Noir, recalling she hadn't joined yet when they'd discussed him.

"In a nutshell, Black Mask is the name we've taken to calling this other Metaverse user that two of our previous targets mentioned seeing in the Metaverse. Apparently they have similar powers to our own, but they use them to do whatever the eff they want. We believe they could be involved in, or possibly even be the one behind, the mental shutdowns." Draconis said as Noir nodded and spoke up.

"Ah, I see. In that case, I'm for catching them too. A true heroine of justice wouldn't let any evil roam free if it can be helped." Noir said firmly as Mona spoke up.

"Let's send out the calling card and take his Treasure then. You can decide when we do so, Joker." Mona said as Draconis spoke up.

"Actually, about that? I was thinking that, if she's agreeable to it, Noir should be the one to write this calling card as the target is literally her dad. How much closer can you be than that to the target." Draconis said as Noir spoke up.

"I've never written a calling card before. But I feel as if he might recognize my writing style too easily." Noir said uneasily as Draconis smiled and spoke up, having an idea of how to solve Noir's dilemma.

"Your father would recognize your writing style, you say? Hmm, that is a problem. However, I doubt he'd recognize my writing style so easily. As such, let's write it together. Odds are better than fair he's not seen my writing style unless he was following our past escapades, and I get the sense he only started caring about what we do when we targeted him. So he shouldn't recognize our styles if we make the card together. Hell, we could even have Oracle put some stuff in to really mix things up, if she wants to help." Draconis said as Oracle spoke up.

"Mwehehe, help out with a calling card? I'm in." Oracle said as Mona spoke up.

"Good! So it sounds like Noir, Draconis, and Oracle will take care of writing the calling card this time and then Queen will help figure out how to get it to the target." Mona said as the group nodded, preparing to head back to the entrance to leave the Palace. After a quick detour to the Velvet Room for some last-minute fusion shenanigans, the group headed to the entrance, where Mona spoke up.

"What do you wanna do? We've secured our route to the Treasure at this point, so do you want to get out of here?" Mona asked Joker, who spoke up.

"Yeah, let's go back. Most of us are beat, and we've done what we came here to do. Let's head back." Joker said as the MetaNav spoke up.

"Now returning to the real world from Okumura's Palace. Thank you for your hard work." The group heard from Joker's phone as they started to return to the real world. Mona spoke up as the group began the return to the real world.

"YES! We finally secured our route to the Treasure! All we need to do now is send the calling card." Mona said as Draconis spoke up.

"Good thing too, because if I'd had to see one more depressing symbol of Noir's dad's messed-up ways, I was probably gonna lose it to be honest." Draconis said as Oracle spoke up with a sly smile on her face while looking at Draconis as she subtly slipped her hand into his to give his hand a comforting squeeze.

"No you wouldn't. I'd have kept you calm, Draconis." Oracle said as Draconis nodded agreement before smiling at Oracle and speaking up.

"True, you probably would've done that, Oracle." Draconis said as Queen spoke up.

"So we've made it this far, but there's no turning back once the calling card is out. Failure is not an option. Is there anything left to do, Joker? Let's make sure we take our time going forward." Queen said. The group then returned to the real world...

(Back at Leblanc that evening, with Ren, Morgana and Kusa)

Morgana spoke up as Ren and Kusa walked back into Leblanc.

"You did great today. Are either of you two tired?" Morgana asked Kusa and Ren, who shrugged as their phones went off to signify a group chat with Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makolto, Okumura, and Futaba, with Ann sending the first response.

"Well, a lot has happened along the way, but we're finally here." Ann sent as Ryuji sent a response.

"Did something happen?" Ryuji sent as Futaba sent a response that had Kusa and Morgana both wincing as they read it.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, y'know the whole kerfuffle between you, Morgana, and Kusa? The one where you managed to actually full-on piss Kusa off enough for him to meet you out behind Leblanc, only to read you the riot act before proceeding to knock you out with one punch?" Futaba sent as Ryuji sent a response.

"Do you really gotta bring that up again?" Ryuji sent as Kusa sent a response.

"Agreed, Ryuji! No offense Taba, but do you really have to mention that? I'm still trying not to wince when I think of that day. Really not one of my prouder moments, that's for sure." Kusa sent as Ann sent a response.

"Kusa, we forgave you already for your part in that, so relax! And Ryuji, it's all good. It's was because of that fight that we met Haru, after all." Ann sent as Okumura sent a response.

"Thank you. I wouldn't be able to do this without your help." Okumura sent as Yusuke sent a response.

"Now is not the time to thank us. The finishing touch still remains." Yusuke sent as Okumura sent a response.

"The calling card, right? What do I need to do?" Okumura sent. Makoto sent a response.

"Once you, Futaba, and Kusa finish writing it, Ren will decide when we send it. Once he does that, we'll meet up and discuss the details." Makoto sent as Kusa and Okumura sent replies close together, Okumura's coming through first.

"I'll prepare myself for that. I leave it in your capable hands, Amamiya-kun the elder." Okumura sent as Kusa's response came through.

"Y'know, speaking of Yusuke's remark about thanking us, that has me thinking. Do we really want to keep calling you by your surname, in case someone thinks we're talking to your father, Okumura-san? Or do you prefer it that way? After all, we go by people's wishes in this chat. Would you rather we keep addressing you by your surname, or would you prefer we start addressing you by your first name?" Kusa sent as Okumura sent a response.

"Glad you asked, Amamiya-kun the younger. Since we're probably gonna be working together full-time, I see no reason not to let all of you be on a first-name basis with me." Haru sent as Kusa sent a response.

"I see. Very well, as you wish, Haru. I will start remembering to call you by your first name then. I merely waited to get your permission first out of a sense of common decency and respect that Ren and I had ingrained into us at a young age by our mother, even if Ren doesn't always show it." Kusa sent as Ren sent a response.

"Ha freaking ha, Kusa. You're a riot." Ren sent as Futaba sent a response.

"Isn't he, though? He's so funny, not to mention good-looking." Futaba sent as a red-faced Kusa sent a response.

"You think I'm good looking, Taba? I'm flattered. Then again, we both know you're the better looking of us two by a mile." Kusa sent as Ren put his phone away. Morgana spoke up.

"This is Haru's first mission, and we're going after her father. Give word when you're ready." Morgana said as Ren nodded and he and Kusa headed upstairs to relax after their long foray into the Metaverse...

END OF CHAPTER

A/N: And boom, another chapter done and dusted! And on top of that, I even got all the way to securing the Treasure route in this chapter! I got it done way sooner than I thought I would. I expected to have to do two more chapters for Okumura's Palace exploration, but this works. If needed, I can split the next couple up as prep week chapters, have a chapter for the fight with Okumura's Shadow, then have a couple filler chapters before the 'change of heart' to end Arc 5. Either way, don't expect Arc 5 to be a long arc, since I think we'll be lucky if it hits 12 parts in length.

But that's also good, since arc 6 is where a lot of the interesting stuff starts happening, including most of the pairings! So I think that's the arc most of you want to see anyways. That said, thanks to all those who've followed my story, favorited it, and/or left a review on it. Your input is what keeps this story going strong! Feel free to offer input in either a review or via PMs! And until next chapter, sithlorde1988 out!

CONFIDANT RANKS AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 57

FOOL (Igor/Prison Master) - Rank 8

MAGICIAN (Morgana/Mona) - Rank 8

PRIESTESS (Makoto/Queen) - Rank 4

EMPEROR (Yusuke/Fox) - Rank 5

HIEROPHANT (Sojiro/Boss/Coffee Daddy) - Rank 6

LOVERS (Ann/Panther) - Rank 9

CHARIOT (Ryuji/Skull) - Rank 7

JUSTICE (Akechi) - Rank 6

HERMIT (Futaba/Oracle) - Rank 2

FORTUNE (Chihaya/Fortune Teller) - Rank 2

STRENGTH (Caroline and Justine/Twin Wardens) - Rank 9

HANGED-MAN (Iwai/Weapons Dealer) - Rank 2

DEATH (Takemi/Back-Alley Doctor) - Rank 7

TEMPERANCE (Kawakami/Becky) - Rank 4

DEVIL (Ohya) - Rank 2

STAR (Hifumi) - Rank 4

MOON (Mishima) - Rank 5

SUN (Yoshida/Man Of The People) - Rank 8

JUDGEMENT (Sae/Prosecutor) - Rank 4

FAITH (Kasumi/Sumi/Yoshizawa) - Rank 5 'MAX'

COUNCILLOR (Maruki/Doc) - Rank 6

WORLD (Kusa/Draconis) - Rank 5 'MAX'

YET TO BE UNLOCKED: TOWER, EMPRESS